If everything we attempted in life were achieved with minimum of effort and came out exactly as planned, how little we would learn-and how boring life would be! And how arrogant we would become if we succeeded at everything we attempted.
Failure allows us to develop the essential quality of humility.
It is not easy- when you are the person experiencing failure- to accept it philosophically, serene in the knowledge that this is one of life’s great learning experiences. But it is.
Nature’s way are not always easily understood, but they are repetitive and therefore predictable.
You can be absolutely certain that when you feel you are being most unfairly tested, you are being prepared for great achievement.
Lead From Within: Failure seems to be nature’s way for preparing you for great responsibilities.
Of Lolly’s many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc. magazine. Huffington Post honored Lolly with the title of The Most Inspiring Woman in the World. Her writing has appeared in HBR, Inc.com, Fast Company (Ask The Expert), Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and others. Her newest book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness has become a national bestseller.
Monica Diaz
02. Jan, 2010
I do not believe Nature concieves the concept of failure as we do. It always restarts, renews, goes on. I believe it is so much the concept that holds us back. As if life were either success or failure, either winning or losing, when life itself is its reward and continuing to move on your life path and revovering your life purpose is the point of living! 😉
Henri @ Wake Up Cloud
02. Jan, 2010
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Without challenges, fear and failure it just wouldn’t be as fun. How fun would it be to play a video game that has no challenges and no risk of death? Boring, as you say 😉
Lolly Daskal
02. Jan, 2010
Dear Monica,
Your insights, your words are always so powerful and profound. Yes, I agree -discovering life’s purpose- path is the point of living.
Here is to all the “restarts, renews and goes on” in 2010.
Lolly
Karen Gordon
02. Jan, 2010
Hi Lolly. I have a daughter who is four and she’s taken to using the word “fair” a lot lately. I keep telling her, what does fair have to do with it? “Fair” has always gotten me into trouble. Letting go of that idea and rocking the frame that “when you feel you are being most unfairly tested, you are being prepared for great achievement” leads to great things. It opens you to possibility, to making your lemonade out of the lemons. Right on.
Lolly Daskal
02. Jan, 2010
There are few occasions during our brief time on earth when most of us experience great flashes of insight, great moments of truth that forever change the course of our lives. Most of those experiences result from spectacular failures, not from outstanding successes. It is from failure that so chagrined and dismayed us that we learn the most lasting lessons. When you are unwilling recipient of a great moment of truth, extract the useful lessons and then put the entire episode behind you. Learn from your failures, forget them. and move to better things. Your failures will prove to be an asset -provided we know why you failed.
Lolly Daskal
02. Jan, 2010
Karen, While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.
Tonya Leigh
02. Jan, 2010
What a great reminder as we start 2010. When failure is viewed as opportunity, it changes the game. Best to you!
Lolly Daskal
02. Jan, 2010
Tonya, We all need reminders- and if we don’t know why we failed. We are no wiser than when we began.
Connie Vasquez
02. Jan, 2010
Great post, Lolly. I agree with Monica. “Failure” is merely a natural evolution and an opportunity for clarity. I find that when I “fail,” there was something not quite aligned with who I am or what I really want, or that I set out with a bunch of “shoulds”. So comes another opportunity to choose and create again with that new insight.
Lolly Daskal
02. Jan, 2010
Connie, so great to see you here. I was thinking – If we are careful – and we study our own life and those of achievers whom we admire, it is with absolute certainty we will discover that their greatest opportunities often occurred during times of adversity. It is only when faced with the possibility of failure that we are willing to deal with radical change and take risk that lead to great success.
Rob Taub
02. Jan, 2010
Right on the money, Lolly, as usual! I once heard said, never look at failure as defeat but rather an opportunity to practice your trechnique, perfect your performance and of course improve, your sense of humor. I say, personal growth/development is the evolution of failuer (I just made that up 😉
Hope this helps!
YT,
Rob Taub
Lolly Daskal
02. Jan, 2010
Rob,
Thank you for your support and comments. I like the way you think..I think you should tweet it…(LOL) “Growth development is the evolution of our failures”. Smart man.
Have a great weekend.
Lolly
Dorothy Dalton
02. Jan, 2010
Lolly – great insights. Failure and setbacks whilst
challenging provide great lessons if we choose to listen to them!
I wish you all good things for 2010!
Lolly Daskal
02. Jan, 2010
Dorothy, Failure is a blessing when it pushes us out of a cushioned seat of self – satisfaction and forces us to do something useful.
I look forward to reading your manuscript in 2010.
love you always
Lolly
Earl Gray
04. Jan, 2010
This speaks to the value of experience, especially painful ends.
Some career moves and opportunities that have been the most personally and professionally rewarding have come from something else that ended either painfully or too soon – in my opinion/understanding at the time. Every one of them has been the opportunity to step into something unexpected from a direction or connection that I had not anticipated – and every one of them have been a key piece from the past into my current future.
The pain has always been worth the joy of the opportunity and living it out. Always
Thanks for the heart, soul and spirit in your writing – it makes a difference!
Earl
Malcolm R. Campbell
04. Jan, 2010
Great post. That opening paragraph literally pops off the screen. I want to shout “yes.”
Malcolm
Sonia Di Maulo
04. Jan, 2010
Amazing post and comments! Has opened my mind to new thinking… failure as a natural concept of life and life as its reward.
Love it!
Thanks Lolly for generating such a wonderful discussion.
Sonia
Kim E. Williams
10. Jan, 2010
Tom Hopkins has some clever ‘attitudes toward failure’ that i memorized years ago to keep me focused on seeing failure as a positive contributor to my life. Movement isn’t possible without friction and living isn’t joyful without failure that build to success.
I think are frustration comes from not perceiving and celebrating the number of successes that actually have had there beginnings in failure.
Jolly Roger Holman
22. Nov, 2010
Failure just means we are one step closer to success! As the saying goes when the going gets tough, the tough go to Jesus!