The Truth About Failure

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.

- Oscar Wilde

How you handle failure determines your levels of success and happiness in life.

If you are afraid to fail, afraid of what others will think of you, or that your situation could become worse, you will remain exactly where you are.

And this is where the feeling of being in a rut begins.

You probably know certain people who complain about their lives -- their jobs, relationships, family or possessions. It's the same 'ol, same 'ol and even though they don't like where they are and know things could be better, they aren't willing to step up and create change.

They'd rather remain miserable and in a rut than risk trying something new.

If you are willing to accept the fact that failure is a part of the landscape on the journey to success, and take the journey anyway, you will achieve far more than the common herd.

Successful business owners and high achievers (athletes, writers, actors, teachers) have failed many more times than those who remain average because they were willing to move through and learn from each failure.

If you were to study every successful human being on the planet (and you may define success in any way you choose), you will uncover a history of obstacles they had to overcome and failures they endured along the path to that success.

With failure comes experience. With experience comes wisdom, character and strength.

You must know failure in order to recognize success.

Just like you needed to learn what hot was so you could understand cold, or what up is so you could understand down. It's based on one of the 7 Natural Laws of The Universe -- The Law of Polarity.



You need to experience fear in order to appreciate faith.

You need to experience illness in order to appreciate health.

You need to experience hate in order to appreciate love.

The important thing to understand is that although failure is a part of the process, it does need to be managed. To run blindly into any situation is careless and creates far more failure than needs to exist.

This is where processes and structures and support systems become invaluable -- where creating a "success" environment reduces your failures and moves you quicker and easier to where you want to be.

Failure must be a part of the process for it's in these valleys you grow most - it's where you become a stronger, more capable person.

And even if what you've worked so hard for is taken away from you, you know how to get it back faster and easier because you have the necessary knowledge and experience.

The true measure of success is in who you become.

If there is anything in your life you long for, don't let the fear of failure stop you because in the end when you look back on your life with regret for the things you never did, you will have realized the ultimate failure.

2007 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source Laurie Hayes, founder and Director of The HBB Source, helps freedom seekers cross the bridge from employee to home-based entrepreneur. Subscribe to her FREE e-zine for valuable tips and resources designed to create business success, at www.thehbbsource.com



To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Hayes's Website.

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