Category: Failure - Coach to Expect Success

Success & Failure - Both Don't Last Forever

2/9/2022

My friend Coach Ray puts these quotes out all the time & this one (like the others) are full of great lessons for me and anyone else that wants to take them in. It's a great reminder that both successes and failures, don't last... but they do affect our futures for sure. I find myself looking back to yesterday even, and there were good things that happened yesterday for sure. I look to continue those good things today. But to do that, my actions, choices, decisions, etc., need to be aligned with those things.

Just as there were some not-so-good things that happened yesterday, I want to learn the lessons from that hopefully to not have my actions, choices, decisions, etc., give me those same results. Again, it's tied into one of the best pieces of advice that I've ever found - and I share it often... "our past is our best mentor."

I also love that part of it where it reminds us that we "must pay the toll" of what success is. Sometimes it's paid in the failures we go through & the struggles that are usually associated with them. We can turn those into "currency" in order for us to use them on better times in our future. Again, things like this are always great reminders for us to take with us throughout our days.

7 Tips for Developing Your Personal Philosophy

4/9/2018

What a FANTASTIC article I found in Success magazine - Click HERE for the article link.

The 7 Tips I found in this article ... heck.. they were even numbered for me so that there was no reason for me missing them... were things that I needed to see on a Monday morning coming back to school after our Spring Break.

First of #1 - Set Your Sail - The author mentions that "the winds of circumstances blow upon all of us" - and it all depends on our thinking, our personal mindset , how we respond to those changing winds -- all of those are how we can succeed where so many struggle. I know for a fact that I need to work on this BIG TIME!!

#2 - Learn from success and failure -- Remember, our personal experience is our best teacher... just as our past is our best mentor. We can also learn from others too - remember that success leaves clues. :-) I always need to remind myself that I need to have a clue in order to pick up the many clues that Success (and failures) leave all around us. ;-)

#3 - Read All You Can -- Books have always been, in my opinion, a cornerstone of success. There are far too many examples to not on how successful people have had reading being a part of that success. It's part of the clues that success leaves - other people sharing information that helped them in some way, shape or form by giving instruction, advice, inspiration, motivation, lessons, etc. I know I need to read more - how about you?

#4 - Keep a journal -- Now I did this ... the key word is DID... and I did not keep up with that. I had a gratitude journal going for a little bit - 9 months to a year maybe?? I know for a fact that I need to get going on that again and soon!!

#5 - Observe and Listen -- WOW... a reminder that I need for sure, since I know how important it is to do these but yet I struggle doing them. I love how this article brought up the points about who have surrounding ourselves and to not "... waste your time on the silly and the shallow." We do get a choice as to who we let influence us. ;-)

#6 - Be Disciplined -- Yep.... another eye-opening reminder for myself here. This is HUGE!! The old saying goes - "Discipline weighs ounces, regrets weighs tons." Putting some discipline in my life - especially when I was younger - could have paid off so much if I had done it. :-) But you know what, I can do it now!! :-)

#7 - Don't Neglect -- All the little things are so important because they lead to bigger things - ALL THROUGHOUT LIFE. Our health, our finances, our relationships, etc. The other 6 points are all part of not neglecting those things in our lives. I know I have to work on all of them for sure and the more I work on them, the better I know I will be.

"We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated." — Maya Angelou

10/4/2017

There probably isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t face some disappointment, setback, or failure. Life is full of them for sure. Some have more or create more of these than others, but the key is that we all have them. For the longest time I didn’t spend my time learning from these mistakes and failures. I usually spent it feeling sorry for myself, blaming other issues, but you know what – deep down inside, I knew I had more to do with than I was letting on.

It took me many years to see the value of those failures. The lessons in defeat are many and like I always tell my basketball players throughout the years – there are many more valuable lessons to learn from losses than there are from winning. Now that I know that – it’s beginning to make a difference in my life. I look back and wonder sometimes if I had picked this up earlier in my life… how things would be much better or at least different.

It’s one of the things that helps a sports team to become great or an athlete too – but the same is true for all of us. If we can bounce back, get up, grow & get better from the setbacks we have in life – we will become better for sure. This holds true at work, at home, with our family and with other people too. They key is to learn early in life. Learn early and often is the key. As time goes on, it does get better for us. Just think of the possibilities 😊

"The true measure of success is how many times you can bounce back from failure." - Stephen Richards

9/18/2017

There are so many things that we can look at to help us measure success. But what kind of success are we talking about? Everyone seems to have different pieces to their own success puzzle. When I saw this quote, it made me think about the fact that the puzzle piece of failure in life is a puzzle piece that we all have in our own puzzle for sure.

Since it does indeed happen to all of us, one of the best ways we can have it produce positive things for us and our lives is to actually learn from those failures. There is an old saying - Lessons Repeated Until Lessons Learned! I know that is right on target, especially for me. So if we can learn that failure happens to all of us and it's usually all the time. Then we can find so much value in failures - now we don't go looking to fail intentionally, but we can find something positive for sure in those.

Finally, I think there is power in the fact that if you know these things about failure - you certainly kind make up your mind to bounce back from them. Knowing that they are coming at us all the time - we can learn from them along with making up our minds to get up from them and not let them keep us down. Of course this is one of many ideas that is best when we take the advice earlier in life rather that waiting.

March 21st, 2017

3/21/2017

"Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again." — Richard Branson

One of the many points that I am seeing over and over again recently is this one about how failure is directly tied into success. It’s a lesson that successful people have been sharing for so many years and it’s also the message that many of us are slow to grasp onto.

It doesn’t matter where you look in life as to who has had success – it can be in athletics, business, medicine, law, education, etc., the message is loud and clear: Failure is part of success!
Most of us look at failure as something to stay away from. Something to avoid at all cost like it is a bad thing that won’t help us out. Now, don’t get me wrong – we don’t need to go out looking to fail over and over again without learning the valuable lessons that are there within the failure event. Yes, sometimes the failures will indeed hurt and cause us problems that if given the choice, we would much rather not have to deal with. But if we can see the value of the lessons within failing, we can use that to propel us to getting things done that will lead to the outcomes that we want to have.

Another key in this – it’s a good idea to know what we want to have in life. We need the goals and dreams to go after every day. If we have those things that are burning inside of us, things we want to accomplish and spend our time doing; that is a tremendous factor that is needed to view failures as necessary to accomplish those things.

I heard a great podcast this morning on my way into work from John Maxwell. He said there is a distinct difference with those people that are working in a career and making a living, compared to those that are chasing after things tied into their passion and purpose in life. I agree. When failures and tough times hit someone who is just making a living, it’s very easy to see why people give up in life. On the flip side, when people hit failures, challenges, and difficulties in life while chasing their passions, dreams and purposes in life; that’s a whole different ball game! Many times the failures, challenges and difficulties are fuel for the fire for building a life of significance and not just making a living.

Which side do you want to be on? What are the failures, challenges and difficulties in your life? Are they leading you to lessons that you can learn and get better from? Are they helping you to get inspired to continue to chase after those things that are in your heart and keep you up at night with excitement? Or are just like the many of people that are ticked off at life, blaming others for your circumstances and you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel that at least is not an oncoming train? With hearing this message about failures so often recently, I know I need to ramp up my learning that’s for sure. How about you?

Failures Are Not Fatal, Unless We Fail To Change - Quote Of The Week!

3/15/2015

“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.” John Wooden

It seems this thought, like many others, have been hovering around me in many different ways over the last few months. Looking back it probably started while I was home recovering and I had a little more time to do some thinking along with having time to notice a few things more than I normally get the opportunity to do.

There have been many failures in my life and I have finally begun to look at them with more of a studying type of look and learning from it, instead of being a victim or blaming others. I’ve had glimpses of this better type of thinking throughout my life, now it just seems to be happening more frequently as I get older.

I’m noticing things changing a lot more too. With both of our kids off at college, there is more time for my wife and I to do things together along with time to do things ourselves too. Both of our parents are getting older and all the issues that seem to come with age are starting to happen with it too. Speaking of age, my wife and I are getting older too of course. There are things that we have to make changes in so many areas of our lives right now.

That goes for all of us. No matter what age we are at, learning from failures that happen (and they happen a lot in life), are necessary for success. The idea of not changing when times dictate that we need to do that, those can be disastrous.

I look around and I see plenty of people that refuse to change. They wear it as a badge of courage for not changing. They either think they know everything and they don’t have to change. Some think they need to show how tough they are and that they can do things on their own without any help from others. This might be the most fatal failure of all – where people don’t think they have to change. I think if you’re not changing, you are actually on your way to getting worse. That’s one thing I don’t ever want to do – I’m looking to always get better. How about you?

Quote of the Week - December 16, 2014

12/17/2013

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Wow.. is this something that I could have used back when I was a teen. Then again, maybe I wasn't ready for learning this lesson?

I guess the sooner you can face your fears, the sooner you have more strength and courage to do other things with in your life. Looking back, there were many fears that I can easily identify now - but I probably had trouble identifying earlier in my life. It's hard to work on battling a fear if you can't identify it. But a word of advice - figure out what those fears are and figure out how you can overcome them and not let them stop you from doing things you want to do.

With another new year coming upon us - remember, don't wait until January 1st to make out some new resolutions to try and take care of. If there are things to deal with - do it now. Don't worry, there will be more things to improve upon come January 1st.

Always looking forward to learning from your thoughts and comments. Let me know.

Quote of the Week - October 7, 2013

10/8/2013

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Standing still is just not in my plans any more. I look back and there have been a few too many spots in my life where I have stood still and let things go by, let things affect me without doing anything. and even let things affect me where I stop moving forward and blamed those other things. This moving forward idea or mindset has been on my mind for years now. So many things happening in education for example (and life in general too) where standing still is not an option. I have really been focusing on these things that are affecting me - using them to make myself better.

Standing still is just about like giving up. Believe me, there have been plenty of times that I have done just that. It hasn't been permanent though. These things that happen throughout life - all of them are just things that we have a choice about. We can let them affect us, beat us up, change us for the worse or we can take them on, fight back and have them change us for the better. When you look and think about that statement from President Roosevelt, there truly is only 1 way of standing still. You stop. Just take a moment to think about all the different ways there are to keep moving forward. Holy Cow! Are you kidding me? How the heck did he know that this is so true? Simply put, he was a man who lived this statement over and over again throughout his lifetime. We can do the same thing.

As much as I hear just about everyone talking about how fast time is going by - and for me personally it is doing just that - isn't it time that we look at all the different ways there are to move forward in so many areas of our lives? Relationships, financially, spiritually, professionally, fitness wise, the list goes on and on and on. Just take a few minutes to think about just 2 areas where you can move forward in and all the different ways you can do just that. In the time it took to write that last sentence - way more than 2 came into my head on what I can do to move forward in. Not only think about a couple - but share them with me or others... get others thinking about this statement. Show them all the different ways there are to moving forward and not just standing still. I look forward to hearing some of your thoughts as always.

Quote of the Week - July 1, 2013

7/2/2013

"If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed." -- David Viscott

When I saw this quote of course I saw it how it related to me. For a long time, having courage to start things has been a problem for me at times. It's amazing that during those times, once I get started on things it gets easier as time goes on. For me, and I think for others too, just to get started on something is the most difficult thing to get through. The worry, the thoughts of how difficult it might be, and yes the thoughts about failure come to mind too.

I was listening to Les Brown yesterday along with some things from Zig Ziglar too. Both speakers had amazing messages and both touched upon this subject. Waiting to get started on doing something due to fear of failing, robs so many people of things that could benefit not only themselves but a great number of other people too. I think for me, that has been an issue for some time. The old saying is that a lesson is repeated until a lesson is learned. That is something that I guess I've been going through for some time now.

Les Brown also brings up another great point. He mentions the idea that the most valuable piece of real estate is the grave yard. I believe he's right. He mentions that most people die with their "music" still in them. All the great ideas they had, but never acted upon. All the great intentions, that never were started. Les mentions that all those great inventions and things that would have helped so many people, are all gone now. Every time I hear Les talk about that, I know he's talking to me. I'm wondering, is he talking to you too? Do you have challenges getting the courage up to get things done or even get things started? As always, I enjoy hearing from others on this subject because I can always use more help in learning about getting better. I also know that other people need help too. Funny thing, Les mentions that too. We need to remember that we all need help in getting better and learning more. We don't have all the answers and cannot do it all on our own. Please, let me know your thoughts and ideas on this and any other items here on my blog.

Quote of the Week - June 3, 2013

6/4/2013

"You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down." - Mary Pickford

This quote jumped out to me as I stared my Monday off after a fun but tiring weekend. Amazing when something you kind of already know comes to you in a thought, idea, or a quote - and it seems totally brand new to you. This quote has two powerful points to it. First, the fact that we truly can have a fresh start at any time we choose - is so true and very amazing when you think about it. When we choose to actually changes our attitude or our outlook, and then start to figure out how to get better or to fix something that has gone wrong; there is a lot of power in that. That is really something that should get us very excited and inspired to get back on track to do things we really want to do.

Secondly, only when we decide to quit on ourselves, a dream, a goal, or someone else even; that is what true failure is all about. When we stop, think, learn, ask questions, etc., then get back up and keep going - that is where we learn from those temporary setbacks. Failure only happens when we CHOOSE to quit. I've done plenty of this over my life, but I'm working hard to not have it happen any more. The amazing thing is that I get so inspired from others. So being connected to others can really help you with this idea.

So much on this quote - but I'm always interested in learning from others what they think about this. That way I can learn more from others. Anything to share?