Image Courtesy of unsoundtransient
Yesterday, I was reading an article entitled Entrepreneurship: What is Your Definition of Failure? written by Steve Chou – one of my favourite bloggers – on MyWifeQuitHerJob.com.
In the article, Steve mentioned that he’s read several articles on entrepreneurship, to which he realised that, every article emphasises failure at some point, but somehow failure is rarely defined.
This got Steve to ponder about the definition of failure. After asking the opinions from several people, and based on his own experiences, Steve came up with 3 of his own definitions:
1. Failure is an Attitude
When things don’t pan out as planned, you have to get back on your feet and get things clicking again. This is when you’ve developed an attitude for success.
2. Failure Doesn’t Exist Unless You Give Up
Henry Ford once said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
You don’t fail unless you throw in the towel and never dare to try again. As long as you keep going, bringing with you the new lessons learnt through your setbacks, you’ve not failed.
3. Failure is an Experiment
In Steve’s own words, “The common underlying theme of all of the entrepreneurial quotes is that failure is just a test. It is a test to see if a business idea is viable. It is only through a series of tests that one can eventually find the sweet spot.”
At the end of the article, Steve posed a question to all his readers:
“What is your definition of failure?”
This question reminded me of a dozen of remarkable definitions of failure I picked up from a book I read a couple of months ago, Success Is Never Ending, Failure Is Never Final, by Dr. Robert H. Schuller.
Here are the very inspiring definitions of failure by Dr. Schuller which I’d like to share with you:
Failure doesn’t mean you were dump to try; it means you had courage to explore and experiment to see what would work and what would not.
Failure doesn’t mean you don’t know how to make decisions; it just means you have to make another decision.
Failure doesn’t mean you’re a failure… It does mean you haven’t succeeded yet.
Failure doesn’t mean you have accomplished nothing… It does mean you have learnt something.
Failure doesn’t mean you have been a fool… It does mean you had a lot of faith.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve been disgraced… It does mean you were willing to try.
Failure doesn’t mean you don’t have it… It does mean you have to do something in a different way.
Failure doesn’t mean you are inferior… It does mean you are not perfect.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your life… It does mean you have a reason to start afresh.
Failure doesn’t mean you should give up… It does mean you must try harder.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ll never make it… It does mean it will take a little longer.
Failure doesn’t mean you’re finished… It does mean you have a chance to try something new.
Failure is never final!
And if you’re a religious person, here’s another one for you from Dr. Schuller:
Failure doesn’t mean God has abandoned you… It does mean God has a better idea!
Attitude is what makes the difference between those who succeed and those who fail. If you could live by Dr. Schuller’s definitions of failure and take on a change of attitude toward failure, then it’d be safe to say you’re well on your way to success.
This is not the first post I’d written on the subject ‘Failure’. But because I thought adopting a positive attitude toward failure is so crucial to success in life that I just have to talk about it again.
If you’ve missed my previous Failure post, check it out by clicking the link below:
Cheers~
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on Jun 30th, 2009 at 8:43 am
What a great post about failture. You make so many great points in this post and really provide a lot of inspiration to those who think that failure is final.
on Jun 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I agree, failure is integrant part of success.
on Jun 30th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
@Positively Present – Thanks so much for your kind words and I’m glad you like the post.
@Oscar – Welcome to The Big Dreamer! Thanks for coming by and sharing your thought. I really appreciate that.
Cheers~
Mark
on Jun 30th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Hey Mark!
Great post, I love it.
It’s not over till the fat lady sings!
Only when you give up that is when you truly fail!
More people need to realise this, your post would give many people more faith!
Ciao!
Diggy
on Jul 1st, 2009 at 4:15 am
Hi Mark,
Somewhere along my journey, I realized that there is no such thing as failure. No one is perfect and each experience is a learning experience. Something only becomes a failure (and/or mistake) when we don’t learn from it. It truly boils down to attitude.
Thomas Edison had to try some 300 different versions of the light bulb before he found the version that worked. Learning does not come from just a book, it comes from living and experiences become our teachers.
Just because something may not work out does not mean you failed. It just means you need to learn what you can from the experience and apply to the next situation.
on Jul 1st, 2009 at 10:19 am
@Diggy – Welcome to The Big Dreamer! I’m glad that you like the post. I sure hope it would give many people more faith!
@Nadia – Great comment, my friend. Success certainly does boil down to attitude and how you learn from your experiences and how you apply the lessons learnt in your next attempt.
Cheers~
Mark
on Jul 1st, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I agree. It’s so hard-wired in us through the school education system that failure is a bad thing. I had to unlearn it and get it into my brain that failure is a GOOD thing. The faster I fail, the faster I learn what works and the faster my success will come.
It sounds simple but my unconscious mind still hinders me sometimes and I find myself procrastinating because of fear of failure.
on Jul 1st, 2009 at 7:22 pm
@Charles – I’m totally with you on “The faster I fail, the faster I learn what works and the faster my success will come.”
Of course I understand it is still hard to get over the fear of failure at times. Perhaps you can try this. Instead of focusing on the fear of failure, try focusing on the fear of regret. Tell yourself that what you fail to get started on might turn out to be the greatest regret in your life. That will be your greatest failure.
Go look yourself in the mirror and screw yourself in the mirror if necessary until you feel so bad that you have no choice but to start taking actions. Because ultimately, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to look down on yourself for not giving it a shot and I’m sure you’re the last person on earth whom you’d want to disappoint.
Cheers~
Mark
on Jul 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Very insightful….. 2 Thumbs Up!
I particularly liked this post and I don’t comment very often. I guess this just resonated with me because I have had many obstacles to face in my life including my current state of being physically challenged.
For me, accepting failure would be like giving up hope and that is something I have plenty of..
I was told a couple years ago, after a major life saving surgery, that I would most likely never walk again. You see, I had been diagnosed with having the largest spinal cord tumor ever seen and there wasn’t much hope in saving my abilities but there was a little hope in saving my life..
At the time, I wasn’t sure if I was willing to lose all that I was used to or good at but I knew I had people who counted on and looked up to me and I had to take a chance for them as well as myself..
Needless to say, I did and today although I’m still in recovery and therapies almost 3 years later, I am still alive and kicking… In fact I’m walking and talking and to be quite honest , I have a completely new outlook on life and what it is really about.
The key for me, is like you said, Never Give Up!
I would like to Thank You for this post and for sharing so many encouraging ideas.. Keep up the good work, it’s definitely appreciated..
To Health And Success,
Shane in Wyo
AKA: Cominback
on Jul 4th, 2009 at 3:12 am
Mark, I loved this article. To me failure is learning what not to do, which is often more important than learning what to do. Thus we should embrace it.
“Attitude is what makes the difference between those who succeed and those who fail.”
Absolutely!
on Jul 4th, 2009 at 8:18 am
@Shane – Thanks so much for the 2 thumps up! I appreciate that. I think your story of what you’ve been through is really inspiring and I greatly admire and respect you for your attitude towards your unfortunate experience.
I’m not going to take credit for the encouraging ideas presented in this post because I’m only sharing what I’ve learnt from a wonderful book. You may want to read the book Success is Never Ending, Failure is Never Final. It is a very inspirational book. I highly recommend it.
@Stephen – I’m really glad you like this article. Thanks so much for dropping by and sharing your thought!
Cheers~
Mark
on Jul 5th, 2009 at 5:00 am
Hi Mark,
I think that failure is just such a strong word, and it has a bad connotation. To me, the mission here is to get people to stop being afraid of the word failure. The phrase “I have failed” just has such an ultimate stigma and negativity to it. It should be more akin to a video game, where if you fail, you just restart the level and try again, this time knowing what not to do. But people have built up the word “failure” so much that they think it’s a horrible thing to fail at something.
This inspires me, I think that I will eliminate the word “failure” from my vocabulary and inspire other people to do the same. I believe I’ll write about this and credit you with the idea. Thanks.
on Jul 5th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
@Trey – I agree with you that the word “failure” has such a bad connotation that people are so afraid to associate themselves with it. It’s great that you’re able to look at it on a positive note and seek to eliminate it from your vocabulary.
Thank you very much for your intention to credit me with the idea, but I think it’ll be more appropriate to credit Dr. Robert Schuller or his book, Success is Never Ending, Failure is Never Final, because I’m only sharing here what I’ve learnt in his book.
Cheers~
Mark
on Jul 8th, 2009 at 2:32 am
Thanks for the great article Mark. I think failure can be one of the greatest lessons a person can go through. The reason? If we don’t ever fail, then we are never trying in the first place. We need to start being more kind to ourselves, and not take failure so personally…but continue to move forward.
Thanks again,
Dayne
on Jul 8th, 2009 at 5:59 am
@Dayne – “If we don’t ever fail, then we are never trying in the first place.” I love that! Thanks so much for your contribution. And thanks for dropping by The Big Dreamer.
Cheers~
Mark
on Jul 16th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Hi Mark,
I went ahead and blogged about this subject, and mentioned the book.
http://www.swollenthumb.com/2009/07/eliminate-failure-from-your-vocabulary/
Just thought you’d like to know.
on Jul 16th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
[...] I got the idea for this article from Mark Foo, who suggests that you read the book Success Is Never Ending, Failure Is Never Final by Robert [...]