Treasures From the ETR Archives: Failure as a Necessary Aspect of Success
March 16, 2007
"When I talk about success, people sometimes get the idea that I have had nothing but. The truth is I am constantly failing. In small things and in important ones."
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"There's nothing that sharpens a smart person's decision-making ability faster than failure."
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"Yes, I've had plenty of failures. But I don't spend much time thinking about them… and when I do, it is with a feeling of equanimity or amusement. I don't feel badly about them. They seem like interesting experiences that happened to the person I was years ago. And it seems to me that's a good thing. Being ashamed of failure must surely be very destructive.
"I'm proud of my successes, but I'm not ashamed of my failures - for one good reason: I consider myself to be a success. Why? Because, despite my many failures, I have to my credit many more successes. How was I able to rack up such a positive success/failure track record? By pushing forward on the next new project after the last one had failed.
"Every successful person has failed. And not just once. The secret to making something good out of your mistakes is to (a) refuse to feel guilty about them, and (b) resolve to learn from them."
posted by M. Masterson @ 9:06 AM,
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