"Failure" Is Not a Person

This is one of the great quotes for today.

Failure is an event.  It is not a person.

~Zig Ziglar

Thank God!  Now we can take a deep breath and continue living. 

How many of us have failed at something?  Raise your hands. 

You, the one driving the rusty red Volvo ... I see you.  Thank you for your honesty.

And you, the mom pushing the stroller with your seven-month-old who just will not be still ... I see you too.  Thank you.

And you, minister at the church downtown ... Yes, I see your hand.

And I won’t forget you, the man sitting on the curb, clutching a brown paper bag, and we probably know what is in that bag. 

Failures happen to all of us.  We miss a step.  We take the wrong job at the wrong time.  We make a series of poor decisions.  And those missed cues crash in on us. 

We tend to blame ourselves. 

We tend to talk dirty to ourselves about ourselves.

And we get down and sometimes stay down for a while.

Again I’ll say it ---

Failure is an event.  It is not a person.

~Zig Ziglar

Brene Brown is one of my favorite authors and speakers.  Listen to what she has to say about this.

“We hate the disconnect.  “I can’t let you see this picture of me because I fear that it will cause disconnection.” 

“Oh how we fear the disconnect.  We don’t want anything to rock our world and our perceived perfect conditions and perfect people. 

“Everyone – EVERYONE has imperfections.  Every company has a weak side.”

~ Brene Brown

Michael Jordan once said this:  “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games.  26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.”

Bill Gates of Microsoft fame was a drop-out.

Former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair, had this said of him:  “All the teachers I spoke to when researching the book said he was a complete pain in the backside and they were very glad to see the back of him.”

~John Rentoul – Tony Blair’s biographer

Abraham Lincoln ran for political office sixteen times.  He became a beloved president.

You see – Failure is not final.

And now … pick yourself up.  Dust yourself off, and start all over again.

Find a new challenge.

P Michael Biggs

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