I have often written about failure and the role it plays in your development. Perhaps you have heard me present or read my four-question series designed to help people understand the important role that failure plays:
- Is failure a learning experience?
- Do you often learn more from failure than success?
- Are you always to be learning and growing?
- Then should you fail as often as possible?
Usually, people answer "yes" to the first three questions, but answer "no" or not at all on question four. I have come to see that I have been misleading people on that fourth question and I am here this week to tell you that I was wrong, or at least incomplete in my thinking where question four is concerned. You will have to read on to understand how I was wrong.
AN IMPORTANT ADJUSTMENT
I was teaching a class not too long ago and we were discussing failure, and it was then that I realized question four was incomplete. It should read
4. Then should you fail on purpose as often as possible?
Think of the most famous example of failure in the world of business: Thomas Edison's discovery of the light bulb. Edison experimented and failed with thousands of materials to find the correct filament that would burn and give light for a long period of time. While you can say that Edison failed thousands of times, he failed with purpose. He was trying to achieve something and the achievement was so important and valuable to him that he persevered and eventually found success.
If you just set out to fail so you can learn, your failure will not be tied to anything important and will not lead you to any success. Therefore I was wrong when I urged you to fail. I am confident I am correct when I direct you to fail on purpose.
MORE EXAMPLES
A baby gets up every time he or she falls because the baby has purpose: learning to walk. You failed in school and gave wrong answer in the pursuit of learning. You did not hit every ball you swung at, did not make every goal you kicked a ball to score, nor did you hit every jump or foul shot. Yet you kept swinging, kicking and shooting because you had a purpose to win and improve. You could tolerate failure because you had purpose.
What implications does this have for your PurposeQuest? It has serious implications, for you will not tolerate or even allow failure unless it is in the pursuit of something that has overriding value, enough to keep you on the path to success no matter what the cost. What's more, you won't endure failure in searching for your purpose unless you see the value in the search and ultimate conclusion. Without that, you will be content with the status quo and endure failure if it leads to your success, which in that case is to preserve the status quo.
I am excited about my newfound discovery and adjustment that I know will help you comprehend how important it is to fail if you are in pursuit of something special. There are only two weeks to go, so I hope you are getting ready to celebrate a failure or two during the week of August 6-12. Until then, I am personally preparing for a wild celebration for I have had many failures on my way to success. Have a blessed week!
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