“The formula for success is quite simple: double your rate of failure.”  Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (founder of IBM)

What did you learn the from the last time you failed?

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  (Rom. 8:28, NLT)

Watson’s quote should and take an incredible burden off our shoulders and make us jump for joy.  We should all be shouting, “I can do that!”  “That” being fail.  After all, most of us spend a good deal of our mental, physical, and spiritual energy doing all we can to avoid failing.  That being the case, logic tells us that it should be a piece of cake to fail.

How do you suppose God views failure?  Do you think for a moment that He defines it as we do?  Usually, when we fail, we are conditioned to view it as the end of the world…or the end of the project…or the end of…whatever.  God, from His perspective, can see the ultimate outcome.  He can see what will finally happen.  He can see whether or not this is the end or just one more piece of data along the way.  If He can see (and He can) that this particular failure is just what we needed to adjust so that we are equipped and skilled to accomplish the ultimate goal, I can almost see Him smiling at our failure.

You know, it’s interesting to reflect on that question about whether or not the failure of the moment is the end of the world/project/etc.  Isn’t the answer always our own choice?  We can choose to quit and not try anymore, in which case it is indeed the end of whatever.  Or, we can choose to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and try again while making adjustments to avoid the trap that we fell into last time.  How does a baby learn to walk?  How does a child learn to ride a bicycle?  Where did this warped fear of failure that we adults seem to have acquired come from?  Hmmmm….you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to answer that one.  Henry Ford once said, “Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.”

Ever heard the macho comment, “Failure is not an option?”  If one carries that philosophy too far, chances are they will never try in the first place.  Where does that take you?  What if Babe Ruth, the league leader in strikeouts held to that view?  What if Abraham Lincoln, who almost set records for the number of lost elections held that view?  Then there’s Thomas Edison who failed thousands of time in his quest of the light bulb who said, “I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  What an attitude!  That’s it!!!  How we view failure is an attitude!  Attitude is something that is in our control.  We’re not a victim…we’re in control.

Happy failures!

Lord, Your Word makes it clear that we have the mind of Christ, yet so often we view failure through man’s eyes rather than through Yours.  Thank you for the grace You provide to us to allow us to move toward that divine understanding of our growth process.

Links of the Day
Failure is a Good Thing
Michael Jordan “Failure” Nike Commercial

Blessings on you as you “fail forward!”  (Thanks to John Maxwell for that clever phrase.)