People Who Avoid Failure Inevitably Avoid Success

Sam Adeyemi

History tells us that while attempting to invent the incandescence light bulb, Thomas Edison, the world famous American Inventor, failed 10,000 times.

After 5,000 failed experiments, his laboratory attendant said to him; “Mr. Edison, we have failed 5,000 times, shouldn’t we stop?” Mr. Edison replied; “Son, we have not failed 5,000 times, we have only discovered 5,000 ways in which it cannot work. We are closer to the solution now than when we started.”

Success is the achievement of predetermined goals. But how do you respond when things do not go the way you planned? Do you feel discouraged and depressed? Does it make you want to quit? Everybody wants to succeed, no one wants to fail. However, our knowledge of success cannot be complete without knowing how to handle failure.

Successful people see failure as a stepping stone, not a stumbling block. They have the right attitude that failure will neither be fatal nor final. They refer to their failure as “learning experiences” or “temporary setbacks”.

On the other hand, unsuccessful people are usually those who are so afraid of failure and rejection that they spend their lives avoiding the risks that could result in failure. They do not realize that those who avoid failure inevitably avoid success.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Success will not come without you taking a risk.

Don’t let what you have done label you negatively. That you failed an interview, an examination or a sales pitch does not make you a failure. Who you are is different from what you have done.

Don’t say to yourself; “I am a failure” just because things did not work out right. If you do that, you have internalized your failure. If you allow failure to get into your heart, it will follow you everywhere.

A key thing to note is that failure is usually a sign that you need to change something. If things are not working, something is out of place.

Be willing to make adjustments prayerfully. Just a small change can result in an outstanding breakthrough.

Always remember that failure is not peculiar to you. Most successful people can write volumes on how not to succeed. They have tried many things that did not work. However, the world has not recognized them for the many ventures in which they failed. No. They have been recognized for the few areas in which they have achieved outstanding success.