I am not afraid of failure!
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat” -Theodore Roosevelt
It’s 12 midnight already, am about to pack up my laptop and go to sleep, but not just quite yet, I have some thoughts from the events of today that have been inspirational for me, and I think it’s good I share. I have quit trying to please all, trying to please all is one of the sure ways to fail. He who will please all will lose his donkey.
“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody” Bill Cosby
There is a world of difference between saying I have failed three times and saying I am a failure. Failing is the birthing place of success. Some of the things I have done lately has won a lot of applause, and a number of boos. The worst that can happen is that I fail, but then, I would never be listed amongst the cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat from not haven tried. I’ll rather be an exemplary failure, than some of the timid souls whose specialization is running commentaries about the lives of others. It’s extremely easy to turn the vegetables in the pot with ones tongues…”he could have done like this…”
My quest for personal development and success has given me the opportunity of reviewing the thoughts of many successful people about failure. Some of these thoughts are heartwarming and outright motivating.
1. To do and fail is better than not doing at all..
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly” - Robert F. Kennedy
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing” - George Bernard Shaw
“The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed” -Lloyd Jones
Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from taking action. You are better off trying and failing than living in the shadows all your life, wondering what would have happened if you had just taken the chance. Many of the people whose opinion matters so much to you, will end up doing things contrary to what you think their opinions are today.
2. Failure is the university of the successful
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” -Colin Powell
“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery” - Samuel Smiles
“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes” - John Dewey
There is a lot to learn from failure, from the failure of others, and from one’s own experiences with failure. It’s one thing to fail, it’s another thing to learn from it. Successful people master the art of failing forward, of falling and not staying down, of failing and taking instructions from it.
3. There is no need giving excuses for failure
“A man may fall many times, but he won’t be a failure until he says that someone pushed him” -Elmer G. Letterman
The day an adult begins to claim someone else is responsible for his/her misfortune, he/she’s making failure a bus-stop rather than a junction. Failure shouldn’t be a bus stop, it should be a junction, a decision making and learning point.
There are 4 types of people who are likely to make failure their bus stops. They are
1. The undecided - If you can’t make up your mind about a venture or what you want to do with your life, you are not likely to succeed. Successful people think quickly and decide on time.
2. The unfocused - If you are trying to achieve too many things at the same time, the odds are against you. He that pursues two rats will catch none. When vision becomes two it’s called di-vision. A dog doesn’t get so courageous that it watches over two houses.
3. The unlearned - “what you don’t know can’t kill you” - That’s a lie per excellence. What you don’t know will kill, maim and hurt you. We are in an information driven age, your sphere of opportunity is your sphere of knowledge. The greatest killer in the world today is not knowing.
4. The unexcited - Winston Churchill is quoted as saying that success is moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. You will succeed easily at what you are passionate about. Your goals must be such as keep you late at night and wake you up early in the morning. The unexcited make failure a bus-stop!
Don’t fear failure… face it!
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Good thinking!
God bless the mind that concieved this………i am motivated!!!
Keep it up!!
Nothing ventured, nothing gained!. Thought provoking, a tonic for the week.
hmmmmm……………
There he goes again. Great thoughts, Great timing.
this is just what i need now. god bless you for allowing these words to flow and not shuting your laptop.
See you at the TOP!!!
Josh
08034389504
Hi Deolu,
I was at the Mentorship Session yesterday and it was simply WAOHHHHHHH. You have got just the kind of words some of us needs at this time and you have been giving it out live and direct. A big THANK YOU to Gbenga Sesan and Lolu Mogaji, they were just awesome.
Thanks guys, we will meet at the top.
We will succeed.
Uhnnnn!!!! What keeps me till late in the night and wakes me up early in the morning?…… dis is something to really think about. This is what can make me feel fulfilled.
Another thought-provoking piece…..this really got me thinking.
Bukunmi Omidiran, could you please drop me a line at ayodele.m@gmail.com.
I’ll like to have a quick word with you.
Oga Josh I hail O!
rgrds,
skybaba
This is really inspiring. It means a life without Vision is heading for a crashhhhhhhhhhhh
deolu, here you go again i cannot stop blessing you thanks a miilion. it was not a guess that people will be blessed with your thoughts it was just accurate. you know all these investment stuff, i ve been feeling funny lately, this morning i was still gisting with my boss over some shares and i told him how angry i am over oando shares that i bought in 2004, few months after i started working, it was a hunger strike for me. so goes pennywise and wealthsolution where i put some of my hard earned dough(lol). but reading from you now makes me feel a little better that i am on the track of success at least better than those who didnot even try.
thanks again.
Whao! Adeolu,
Thanks so much for this post, it came at the right time and season, i’m blessed. I’m very much encouraged to keep moving on, i can see i’m on the right track to success. I’m actually about to make some big moves i’ve never done in my life, but somehow since saturday a kind of fear ‘what of if it fails or colapse’ has been trying to grip my heart but now i’m much double sure it’s the right step in the right direction i’m about to take.
Most of the time when God wants to perform a miracle, He usually sends WORDS through his messenger, i believe God sent these words through you to many of us who needs it. Thank you for obeying and not closing your laptop without posting these words. GOD BLESS US ALL.
god bless you. pls always forward your write ups to me daily. i love them
This remind me of when I was to leave Abeokuta.I had everything but i still did niot believe in myself.
Failure is always determined by the person in the subject matter.One can never be a failure except he agress to it.It is a known fact that if one falls seven(7) times,he would surely rise again but if the person does not stand up,it means a total knockout.
I have always use this statement from my school days and it has always staired me up:
“Where there is a purpose,there is no failure” ACUBE
“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.”Tommy Lasorda.
Good one,Kudos Deolu…Ron.K says if you catch hell don’t hold it if you are going through hell don’t stop..go ahead ..go ahead don’t stop.
We shall continue trying and making attempt at good things in life until our good becomes better and our better becomes best
Nice one Chairman,
A word of advice to all out there tyring to stake it out by getting involved in all Network marketing programs lose the essence of network marketing.
1. You tend to sell d same generic products to d same limited market. Ever heard of a GTb staff trying to market a Zenith account opening package? Thus this limits achievement of any real type of goal or target.
Again, mind rending, thot provocing stuff. Chairman, WELDONE!!!
What really got to me is …
‘The day an adult begins to claim someone else is responsible for his/her misfortune, he/she’s making failure a bus-stop rather than a junction’
I’ve made a lot mistakes in the past and I’ve fallen countless times, whenever I standup and own up to my failures, I am usually the better for it, and ofcourse I get tempted almost always to pass the buck to others (well, that will be most convenient) and when do, I’m almost certainly going to make the same mistake/failure again. I have learnt that in life, your ability to take the blow on the chin when you fail is what is defined as maturity.
Keep the good work on sir!
Masterpiece!
Reminds me of a quote:
Let me win.
But if I cannot win,
Let me be brave in defeat.
Well done chairman.This is a good reminder as some one put it “success is achieve and maintain by thoso who keep trying”,you can only keep trying if you have failled once or more.Please we like these one
Hmm! What can I say, powerful and thought provoking.
Great post, i have failed in both little and great things. I have also succeeded at a lot of things too. Believe me, i know the difference. Success is much different from failure, just like light and darkness. It will be very useful when anyone who fails, to see the failure as an event and not as a true reflection of who you are as a person. When you fall down,get up and continuing moving. The most important thing is succeeding on the long run,not how many times you failed in the process. Learn to always keep your eyes on the big picture. Always think success and you will succeed.
this is a beutiful one its true there is no success without having gone through challenges (failure)
yesterday morning, I confidently sent a mail to a forex analyst regarding my ‘well thought-out’ plan that would guide ALL my tradings. Before going to bed, I was already feeling like a fool:
I’ve been using the plan for a few days and it has been working nicely; but lastnight, while still beaming with confidence, i tried to prove my point by putting the plan to use on a new terrain. Alas, its massive flaws stared at me in the face, dealing with me mercilessly. Mayb if I hadn’t written that mail (that made me look like a fool), I wouldnt have tried to prove a point by putting the plan through a more difficult test. Mayb I might never have been aware of the stupidity of making such a plan the “all-in-all.” Mayb d price I would’v paid for ignorance would hav been disastrous in the future. Now, I know better.
Sir, another encouraging piece.
I have indeed lost many battles the war is far from lost.This piece here has only made stronger my resolve not to stop until i win-though the pain of loss is excruciating.
Deolu,
Thank you for Inspiration once again. I have to keep moving
Deleted… wrong post for this topic….sorry…admin
@ Phillip:
what’s the ‘RELAXBIZ’ all about?.Kindly fill the house in.Hope its ‘ginuwine’?.Dont wanna lose hard earned dough o!.
@Phillip and Ajifixing…
Please let’s try to post comments that have to do with the post or the thread of discussions on the post… there are other articles to market on… let’s use those for all these things. Thanks.
@All
Thanks for all the pleasant comments. I appreciate, and I’m happy that this piece has been a blessing to so many.
Cheers
Its another motivating piece but will your articles also stop coming as you will be going on a break.
I have not been on for a while cos i was stronger than i could imagine, but i am more than glad i found this post out here. it is just what i need to get up from where i am now. This is really good and i am sure that falling means trying, failing is an attempt and rising up from that spot is the success that comes with it.
mind blowing and refreshing… moving from failure to failure with enthusiasm, i’ve been there and believe me it also takes a lots of guts.
Thanks Deolu for the heartfelt inspiration.
Failure, what a word?
I quite agree with you that one shouldn’t fear failure but rather see failure as a challenge to ones success and lifting.
However, this has really geared me up that in every of ones failure or people in ones environ, there is a lesson to learn. It now depend on how smart you are in learning to be a success.
Nice forum to join and participate