I am doing an Olympic series at church during the month of February. The Bible has much to say about competition, achievement, success and rewards. While watching the Olympics, I noticed how athletes handled defeat, especially when they were expected to do well and interviewed immediately after not placing in their event. Some blamed the course or the conditions, while others took responsibility for their low performance and congratulated the medal winners.
True champions have learned from their failures and continue to move forward. Those who do not either quit, give up or become bitter. I was pleased with the title I am giving the message, “Failing Forward” until I discovered John Maxwell has written a book by the same title, Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success. I am learning from my message titling failure and am sharing Maxwell’s success strategies from failures:
Maxwell says “…..I know of only one factor that separates those who consistently shine from those who don’t: The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.” He outlines four areas and “success strategies” in his book that help us see failure in a positive light and move us towards success.
1. Redefining Failure and Success
Most high achievers don’t see mistakes as the enemy, but an opportunity to learn. It begins with perspective; acknowledging and viewing our failures as stepping stones to our goals or purpose, “the price we pay to achieve success” as opposed to avoiding it at all costs.
2. Do You Mind Changing Your Mind
Maxwell contends that failure is an inside job. To win the mind game against adversity requires a positive attitude. The secret to creating optimism is learning “contentment”.
“Contentment comes from having a positive attitude. It means expecting the best in everything-not the worst; remaining upbeat-even when you get beat up; seeing solutions in every problem-not problems in every solution; believing in yourself-even when others believe you’ve failed; holding on to hope-even when others say it’s hopeless…a positive attitude comes from within. Your circumstances and your contentment are unrelated.”
3. Embracing Failure as a Friend
There is a certain amount of adversity we just have to overcome to succeed. But Maxwell takes it one step further, “To achieve your dreams, you must embrace adversity and make failure a regular part of your life. If you’re not failing you’re probably not really moving forward.”
4. Increasing Your Odds for Success
Maxwell spells out the top reasons why people fail, and here are some of the actions that we can take to achieve success and fail forward:
• Develop people skills; build solid relationships and Emotional Intelligence or EQ.
• Attitude is everything; with one shift in perspective, our circumstances can change dramatically. Recognize when circumstances need changing; where there is a disconnect with a job, career path, or relationship.
• Examine the level of commitment and focus. A lack in either area can turn simple mishaps into failures.
• Be flexible and open to change. If you resist it you deny success.
• Develop self discipline, take personal accountability; take action in spite of outer circumstances. Create an action plan, goals for next steps and a sense of purpose.
• Talent alone won’t bring success. Don’t settle; let’s improve our gifts, and the weak areas that can hold us back.
You may order the book through JohnMaxwell.com, Amazon or any other book seller.
Keep moving forward!
True champions have learned from their failures and continue to move forward. Those who do not either quit, give up or become bitter. I was pleased with the title I am giving the message, “Failing Forward” until I discovered John Maxwell has written a book by the same title, Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success. I am learning from my message titling failure and am sharing Maxwell’s success strategies from failures:
Maxwell says “…..I know of only one factor that separates those who consistently shine from those who don’t: The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.” He outlines four areas and “success strategies” in his book that help us see failure in a positive light and move us towards success.
1. Redefining Failure and Success
Most high achievers don’t see mistakes as the enemy, but an opportunity to learn. It begins with perspective; acknowledging and viewing our failures as stepping stones to our goals or purpose, “the price we pay to achieve success” as opposed to avoiding it at all costs.
2. Do You Mind Changing Your Mind
Maxwell contends that failure is an inside job. To win the mind game against adversity requires a positive attitude. The secret to creating optimism is learning “contentment”.
“Contentment comes from having a positive attitude. It means expecting the best in everything-not the worst; remaining upbeat-even when you get beat up; seeing solutions in every problem-not problems in every solution; believing in yourself-even when others believe you’ve failed; holding on to hope-even when others say it’s hopeless…a positive attitude comes from within. Your circumstances and your contentment are unrelated.”
3. Embracing Failure as a Friend
There is a certain amount of adversity we just have to overcome to succeed. But Maxwell takes it one step further, “To achieve your dreams, you must embrace adversity and make failure a regular part of your life. If you’re not failing you’re probably not really moving forward.”
4. Increasing Your Odds for Success
Maxwell spells out the top reasons why people fail, and here are some of the actions that we can take to achieve success and fail forward:
• Develop people skills; build solid relationships and Emotional Intelligence or EQ.
• Attitude is everything; with one shift in perspective, our circumstances can change dramatically. Recognize when circumstances need changing; where there is a disconnect with a job, career path, or relationship.
• Examine the level of commitment and focus. A lack in either area can turn simple mishaps into failures.
• Be flexible and open to change. If you resist it you deny success.
• Develop self discipline, take personal accountability; take action in spite of outer circumstances. Create an action plan, goals for next steps and a sense of purpose.
• Talent alone won’t bring success. Don’t settle; let’s improve our gifts, and the weak areas that can hold us back.
You may order the book through JohnMaxwell.com, Amazon or any other book seller.
Keep moving forward!
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