“Success is not final,
failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” Sir Winston Churchill
Success often comes to those
willing to not only wait but also to those actively in pursuit of “outside of
the box” thinking. New directions,
products, goals, destinations, partnerships and alliances never before thought
possible have emerged from the “shelter in place” economy. We all do things differently – the degree of
success achieved often directly linked to the amount of risk we are willing to
take, the confidence we have in the gifts we are given and the courage we have
in our ability to learn from failure.
Many of us have experienced
failure to varying degrees during the past several months. Our comfortable existences (built upon personal
dreams that came to fruition through hard work and determined actions) crashed upon
rocky shores – dismantled by a stormy world and its altered expectations that
we could not have anticipated nor controlled.
Stories about plant closings and personal loss became more the norm than
the exception – the negative reality (and its perceived lingering impact) overshadowing
news about business expansion, short term disruption and the predicted rapid
return to “normal” – all totally unexpected even two short months ago when our
economy was moving along at an unprecedented rate. Unanticipated failure, uncontrollable
restrictions, unwelcome disruptions, unwanted time away from what we want and
need to do and forced “confinement” within a limited space and a handful of
people (for those fortunate enough to share their home lives with others) are
all issues that must be dealt with in a world that seems to have run amok –
fallen over the edge – leaving many abandoned within its wake. In times such as these we must either accept
that we cannot control certain aspects of our lives and move on OR become lost
in misery and self-loathing – painting ourselves as victims within a world over
which we had no control – and wait for “things to get better.”
In order to grow in life we
must experience failure – know that everything happens for a reason but that
sometimes the reasons for things happening are to help us learn rather than to
provide us results. If we are to thrive
in life we must truly believe that learning lessons from our experiences today (rather
than trying to avoid all potential of failure or shortcoming) will actually
allow us to move relentlessly towards a brighter tomorrow. “Getting by” can be done with very little risk,
investment or commitment. Thriving is
reserved only for those willing to try without guarantee or promise of success
– to recognize that falling is not failure, rather failing to get up after
falling is the only true impediment to success we will ever face. While some may limit their potential by doing
only that which they know will work (for whatever reason feeling that what has
been is all that will ever be), others will fly like eagles by recognizing no
life is without disruption and that one can only truly live life after they
accept failure as a given and recognize the strength that can be gained ONLY by
working through that failure.
Individuals whom consistently taste success and thrive during times of
turmoil typically define their future ONLY by its potential rather than by
imaginary restraints (be they real or perceived) constructed from beliefs and
conditions within their pasts that cannot be overcome. Once achieved, success should be viewed as a
means to an end rather than an end in itself.
Success can lead to obsolescence without continuous attention to and
improvement of the choices we have been given.
Failure is not fatal UNLESS
we accept it as a conclusion to our actions rather than an unplanned stop along
the way. Let us not look into the face
of failure only to find that “it is us.”
Move forward with courage to establish lofty goals – never resting on
the laurels of past successes. Seek new
mountains to climb – refusing to be lost in the dark valleys of missed
opportunity. Though we are emerging from
the mists that have slowed our journey, our road to recovery has not yet ended
– our destination has yet to be fully revealed.
Failure can only become success when we exhibit the courage to
continue. While we all assume our share
of blame in this world, we should never allow ourselves to be accused of
following the crowd we were destined to lead – of becoming but an “accepted”
part of the problem rather than an essential part of the solution. Our dreams will be realized only when we continuously
move forward in our quest for new realities, accepting failure as a part of
that ongoing process we cannot control – a part that will negatively impact us
ONLY if allowed to grow unabated within us because we do not have the courage
to move on or the desire to grow.
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