FAILURE AND SUCCESS

The secret of America’s progress lies in a single word: research. In the United States, everything is studied and analyzed. For example, many people have researched the meaning of success and failure, and how failure can be turned back into success. Some books written on this subject include:

•           Carole Hyatt, When Smart People Fail

•           Rabbi Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People

•           Charles Garfield, Peak Performers: The New Heroes of American Business

•           Harvey Mackay, Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive

These books contain valuable insights into their topic. Here, we will mention only two points.

The first point is that in this world, it is impossible for anyone to live a life completely free of failure. At some point, everyone must face setbacks. The right approach is to treat each failure as a lesson. The secret behind the success of many well-known people is that when they failed, they refused to see failure as the final word:

They learnt not to take failure as the last word.

The second point is that success, like failure, can also be a problem. Continuous success often breeds arrogance, which itself becomes a serious cause of failure. A successful businessman, Glenn Early, once said:

“I can’t afford to get arrogant about success. So, I am always trying to improve my business.”

Success and failure are not mysterious. They are outcomes that arise from identifiable causes. Once you understand these causes, you will have no reason to complain about others.