virgin islands scene

If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.
-- Thomas Watson
 

 

Wednesday, March 13, 1996

Fear of failure

Dr. Robert Schuller often asks, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"

Successful people know they cannot fail, because they know that there is no such thing as failure -- there are only results. The super achievers in the world are able to take action because they simply don’t believe in failure.

Are you afraid of failure? Then you need to understand that there is no such thing as failure. You never fail -- you always succeed in producing results. If you don’t like the results you are producing, then you just have to find someone who is producing the results that you desire, and do the same things that that person is doing.

Belief in failure drags you down. If you believe that you have failed, then it affects your self-image and your ability to the things you want to do.

Remind yourself that failure is not an option. Everything you do has a result. If the things you are doing are not producing the results you desire, then change what you are doing. It is as simple as that. Don’t dwell on your “failure.” Think instead about what you could do differently to get the results you want. After Thomas Edison had tried 9,999 times to perfect the light bulb, and had not succeeded, someone asked him if he was going to have 10,000 failures. Edison replied that he had not failed -- that he had just discovered another way not to invent the electric light.

Realize that you cannot fail, and you’ll be able to do, to be, to have whatever you want.

— Ralph Marston

previousWhat is your dream?       Spring Cleaningnext

Copyright ©1996 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.