Success – Only an Inch away from Failure
The energy that creates great ideas also creates errors. Most truly creative and successful people have hence also had setbacks, frequently huge ones where they lost almost everything they had.
Be prepared to fail, on average, 3.1 times before striking it big.
The more people I get to know and the more biographies I read, the more convinced I am that we have to be prepared to fail miserably if we are going to achieve anything worth-while in this world.
The difference between success and failure is really minute. We have to trust our instincts and try,since if we don’t, there is no way we will ever succeed.
If we never fail it means that our goal wasn’t big enough. And if the goal isn’t big enough there is no risk involved. Trying out safe ideas are neither creative nor innovative and no biography will be written about you if that’s how you lead your life.
Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties, someone once said and that is so true since the only thing that’s certain in life is that there are no certainties. So it depends on what you want out of life. Or as George Bernard Shaw put it: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world – the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man”.
(Photo: Isabelle Barthe, Photo Xpress)
Tags: biography, creativity, errors, failure, loose, risk, success, unreasonable, win
October 1st, 2009 at 22:23
Success – Only an Inch away from Failure this wass great
Rodney Kincaid
CEO Balmoral
October 2nd, 2009 at 18:31
I suspect G. B. Shaw was correct. It takes a different kind of person to be successfully creative as it does usually take a few failures. Henry Ford's successful business came after his first company failed and he is not alone. I am not sure creativity or such risk taking can be learned. Perhaps there is a way to nurture it during education but the real key is to provide the environment for it. That is why the USA has been so successful. The less government control the more creativity; some good some not so good and some really bad. In the long run though it's better to fix the really bad than not to have the others.
October 3rd, 2009 at 15:11
This article makes me to Think n Act . I would like to hear from you more articles in this path.
October 6th, 2009 at 22:12
Risk-taking is sometimes good, sometimes bad. Depends on the business you are in and the prevailing factors (maturity of the business, etc). So it would not make much sense to teach risk-taking per se, rather to teach the ability to evaluate the business and determine an optimum strategy. There are no simple solutions.
January 7th, 2010 at 15:24
Glad we agree Rodney!
January 7th, 2010 at 15:31
As Henry Ford proves, G.B. Shaw was most likely right. But now the US most likely needs to regulate, at least the banking sector, to get more creativity. Otherwise the gap between success and failure will widen enormously.
January 7th, 2010 at 15:33
Krishna I agree with BGH. Would like to add that you also have to have the courage to fail and how do you teach courage?
January 7th, 2010 at 15:33
Good points Guy!
January 7th, 2010 at 20:51
I've also been thinking lately about the idea that most people give up right before they would have succeeded. I think there is some truth in that, though it's hard to see after several failures.
In terms of Catarina's question about how you teach courage, I've been wondering about that, too. (In fact my blog post this morning asks for ideas about moving past fear.) I think a supportive community is one key, as well as practices that help keep you grounded.
January 8th, 2010 at 17:34
Agree with you Eileen that in most 'cases people give up just before they succeed. In many cases I think that is because they are not really passionate about what they are doing. Because if you are you don't give up.
Teaching courage, sometimes I believe it's possible, but when it comes to most people I don't think it is. If it was we would have far more truly successful people, actually.
January 9th, 2010 at 17:58
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world – the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man”.
I believe the path to abundance, awesome health and happiness lies in our co-creating with one another, and with nature. Co-creating increase the size of 'the pie", whereas competing, particularly with natural systems, leads to disaster.
Example: When it comes to growing food, the most nutritious food, the greatest nutrional yield comes from organic farming. Industrialized agriculture has been a miserable failure, the chemical "fertilizers", pesticides, herbicides, GMO's; filling the natural soil biology, the boilogy which, when fostered, cycles plant nutrients, and suppresses plant dis-eases and pests.
Let's brainstorm on how we can live in greater harmony with one another, and with nature, conserving our natural resources, working to restore the health of the soil, so the soil can once again yield abundant nutritious food for all of us.
January 9th, 2010 at 20:44
More on this discussion, I think of couple of quotes that I learned:
1. "You'll never know the worth of the anchor until you've felt the force of the storm" anonymous!
2. "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time" (Andre Gide).
Taking chances allows us to reach new heights, but it also allows us to appreciate what is worthwhile in our lives.
As always Catarina, you started a nice discussion.
January 10th, 2010 at 14:41
Stefany I love your quotes! Let's hope the US & EU regulate the banks so that we don't get too many storms caused by them. If they are not regulated some US experts believe there may be another recession caused by Wall Street already this autumn.
January 11th, 2010 at 01:20
Easier said than done. Just like this, today is stressful, tomorrow also is stressful, but the after tomorrow is beautiful, the fact is, however, most people give up tomorrow evening“““
January 11th, 2010 at 14:54
Well Kevin, we all need to keep on trying and not give up since success is only an inch away…
January 14th, 2010 at 11:58
Some excellent points in this post, Catarina… And of course, creativity blossoms in tough times, as people move away from comfort zones, whether through circumstance (force) or desire (spotting a new opportunity).
The fact is that in such times, new leaders emerge in almost all markets – often because the previous leaders are constrained by their previous success and unable to adapt.
Now's the time to really "think outside the box" (to use an apt, although much-overused, expression) and get those creative juices working.
January 16th, 2010 at 02:12
interesting read, just found your discussion on linkedin, great stuff please keep posting. thanks and happy new year wish u all the best. Aidan.
February 6th, 2010 at 22:19
Great Article! How can we grow, improve and learn more about ourselves, if we never venture out of our comfort zones and are always afraid to fail? Here are some interesting quotes:
Go back a little to leap further.
John Clarke
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
Theodore Roosevelt
Half of the failures in life come from pulling one's horse when he is leaping.
Thomas Hood
Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
William Shakespeare
Every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.
Napoleon Hill
Failure is blindness to the strategic element in events; success is readiness for instant action when the opportune moment arrives.
Newell D. Hillis
Wherever we look upon this earth, the opportunities take shape within the problems.
Nelson A. Rockefeller
What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?
Vincent van Gogh
February 7th, 2010 at 12:21
Good comment Karim.
March 9th, 2010 at 01:33
Catarina, There could be a lot of ways something could fail, but it only takes one way that works. Yes lots of people have good ideas, but never see them through. They could be an inch away.
May 8th, 2010 at 04:31
Catarina,
Very true.
It is important not to let failures discourage you from pursuing your dreams. As sages have stressed time and again : The key to success is persistence at the face of adversity. Churchill preached and practiced : quote;Never give up!quote;
Mark Fischer and Marc Allen (1997) very well describe the relationship between success and failure as : “ In reality, there is no such thing as failure: It’s just part of our education on the way to our inevitable success.”
Let’s hear more from you on this very inspirational topic.
Zafar
May 8th, 2010 at 10:38
Yes Zafar, it's a shame how people normally give up when something goes wrong, isn't it.
May 8th, 2010 at 18:03
Catarina,
As I said , I agree with you wholeheartedly that, we should not let failures deter us from pursuing our dreams.
Having said that, however, I also believe that we should learn to keep an open mind and should know when the time is right to change the course, especially in business-related situations.
As someone said: One definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting a different result.
So, I believe, it is important to be able to assess the situation dispassionately and realistically, and to decide whether to carry on, or to allocate your time and resources to a more viable alternative.
What do you think?
Zafar
May 9th, 2010 at 10:02
Agree with you Zafar.
May 12th, 2010 at 08:21
This article really hits the nail on the head, and well written too. I was feeling quite frustrated yesterday but this gave me that little boost.
May 12th, 2010 at 10:40
Pleased that my article had a positive affect on you Tony.
May 14th, 2010 at 06:31
This is very true and I welcome this article because, many people just think that failure is not an option. When the time is not right to do something, then the probability of success is also very low or absent. Thanks for your article Catarina
May 14th, 2010 at 10:18
My pleasure Yves.
May 18th, 2010 at 08:59
Catarina ,got to see your articles thro Linkedin ,topics are very real life ones .Failures doesn’t deter me from achieving success.How do u quantify success eluding a person for years ?