Is the word “failure” a negative or positive?
December 3rd, 2010
Is the word “failure” a negative or positive?
We’re programmed from an early age to believe that failure is a negative and as such we accept it as just that. The word “failure” doesn’t care if you make it a negative or a positive it’s only a word. When you choose to accept it as a negative you’re acknowledging that you have failed and in your mind it becomes a negative. There really is no such thing as failure, it’s only a word to describe an experience at the moment or a temporary setback but we have a way of making it more permanent which prevents us from moving forward.
In life all we have is experiences and we all have moments of what we label as failure and what appears to be a negative. When you experience these moments you can choose to accept them as failure or choose to look at them as a learning experience as Thomas Edison did. You have probably heard the story of Thomas Edison who failed a 1,000 times when inventing the light bulb. What if Thomas Edison would have given up after a few tries and accepted his “failures” as a negative and made it permanent in his mind? Thank God he didn’t and he chose to look at each failure as a learning experience which kept him moving forward towards achieving his goal.
You can’t change the past but you can change how you respond to the future. When you choose to accept the word “failure” as a learning experience you make it a positive and open your mind up to solutions and possibilities, as Thomas Edison did, instead of defeat.
To your success!
Mike Brenhaug
www.BlueRockCoaching.com