The 1159: Failure Doesn’t Exist… Where We Think it Does.

Good morning!! Happy Tuesday and a late Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you had an amazing holiday weekend! I’d love to hear: what was a highlight from it?

I spent the holiday with my brother at a local airport in South Dakota. He’s here finishing up his commercial pilot license (CPL). It’s been educating to say the least. (Did you know you can determine the headwind along a runway by multiplying the cosine of the angle of the wind by the velocity of the wind? Yeah me neither).

So anyway, it’s been interesting up here. It’s a quiet town, not much to do (especially on Sunday nights it turns out), and when I say I’ve OD’d on Folgers and Delight French Vanilla creamer, I mean it.

I’ve had a lot of thoughts up here; time is relative to our perspective, local economies are locked in scale unless opened to outside economies, your network is literally your fastest way to growing your net-worth, the use of a biogas generator could add another revenue stream to a canine waste company if the energy produced was strategically stored and utilized, and so on.

Don’t I sound like a young lad going crazy. Yeah, you nailed it.

And then we end up here, on Tuesday. I’ve typed this email out 3 or 4 times now. One contained thoughts on the relativity of time, one on the power of perspective, one was just rambling and quickly got tossed.

And since you’re reading this one, it means it’s the lucky draft that I finally hit send on. Enjoy :)

Failure Doesn’t Exist … Where We Think it Does.

I’ve been in slump recently. Just down and out. (Totally not complimentary to my optimistic, extroverted, high performing personality).

I’ve hit wall after wall recently. I’ve failed more in the last 3 years than I think I ever have.

I’ve spent more on investments into new technology and potential revenue streams/business opportunities than I ever have.

And yet I’m no where close to where I had hoped to be. Not even in the same neighborhood. In fact, it feels like I’ve gone backwards a bit.

Good.

Yep, that’s right … good.

Why?

Because without being where I am now, I wouldn’t know what I know now. (Follow me?)

Everything that has been different than what I had hoped for, literally holds lessons unlocked.

For the tech stack that didn’t work the way I had hoped. Lessons to be learned.

For the acquisition that stalled out and all but crashed. Lessons to be learned.

For the two startups that stalled out and did crash. Lessons to be learned.

For the meetings that got me laughed out of the office (literally). Lessons to be learned.

Every “failure” has a lesson to be learned (I’m repeating myself now). In fact, I don’t even call those failures.

I would call them teaching moments. Mistakes with lessons. Experience.

Failure isn’t in the mistake itself. It’s not where we think it is.

Failure is when you either don’t learn lessons from making mistakes or don’t apply the lessons learned. Or both.

Failure is repeating the same mistake without any effort to correct it.

Mistakes, while not ideal, are opportunities.

They are opportunities to learn, to grow, and to advance.

We are given the choice; Accept failure, or accept growth.

Below are some of my favorite quotes that remind me that failure is a choice. And it is not fatal, as Churchill put it. I’ve added some questions that I asked myself when I read these quotes.

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

Do I stick with the problem until I learn (win), or do I quit when it gets tough?

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

What is keeping me from continuing on? Speak truth to the lies and watch them become silent.

“If you’re not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you’re determined to learn, no one can stop you.” – Zig Ziglar

Am I determined to learn? What is a lesson I can learn from today? From this past week? From this year?

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela

What does it look like to rise (and learn) from the last fall I took? How can I apply those lessons today?

So if I could encourage you… don’t stay down. Get back up, learn, apply, share.

And listen, it’s ok to fall down sometimes. It means you’re a doer, and you don’t just talk the talk, but you walk it too.

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.” – John Wooden

Just remember to learn from those mistakes. And find someone who can cheer you on and stand with you through the thick and thin.

If I can be that for you, reply to this email and fill me in on what you’re up to and how I can support you.

Rooting for you!!

See you next Tuesday,

-DC