Self confidence is one of the keys to personal and professional success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to become self confident you need to do three things. 1) Become an optimist. 2) Face your fears and act. 3) Surround yourself with positive people.
Social networking is a great way to surround yourself with positive people. I am a member of several social networks. Last week, I met a positive person on Jason’s Network. Carl Bruggemeier left a comment on my blog post 30 Days to Success. He wrote: “Bud, Great post. Thanks very much. Very insightful.” He also added a blog post he wrote called “Succeed from Failure!”
Comments on my blog mean a lot to me. By leaving a comment on my post, Carl gave me just a little more motivation to continue writing this blog five days a week. That’s what positive people do – they give you the confidence and motivation to keep working toward your personal and professional success.
On the other hand, Carl’s “Succeed from Failure” blog post makes some great points about the importance of facing your fears and acting. Fear of failure is one of the biggest reasons that people don’t follow their dreams. Fear paralyzes them. But, as Carl points out in his blog post, failure isn’t the end of the world. It’s OK to fail – in fact, an occasional failure is good for you.
Here’s what Carl Bruggemeier has to say about how to make failure work for you.
“How can failure work for us? It is simple, for every failure we experience we learn what does not work or a behavior we should not repeat. Let’s not be afraid of failure. The misperception is that failure is somehow bad for us. Failure is just the opposite and here are eight reasons
why failure is a launching pad for success.1. Failure manifests determination.
2. Failure stimulates creativity.
3. Failure fully engages your brain.
4. Failure brings change.
5. Failure shows the strong from the weak.
6. Failure motivates you to try again.
7. Failure is an opportunity to learn.
8. Without failure you become complacent.“The idea is basic. Failure is the change agent to becoming successful; we should not let the negative perception surrounding it bring us down. We are in charge of our lives and turning any failure into a positive experience.
“Failure is a learning opportunity, but only if we seize it. More often than not failure is seen as something that should be hidden and avoided. How often in our lives do we think people make
the same mistakes over and over again because no one ever admits to the mistake or examines why the mistake was made.”
Carl is right. Each failure presents you with an opportunity to begin anew – a little more intelligently. Mike Ditka, a member of the NFL Hall of Fame says, “Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal.” That’s why you shouldn’t let your fear of failure paralyze you into inaction.
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people are self confident. Self confident people surround themselves with positive people — and they don’t let their fear of failure paralyze them into inaction. Social networks are a great place to meet virtual friends – positive people who can help you on your journey to personal and professional success. On the other hand, while most of us fear failure, we can’t let that stop our march to success. Successful people use their failure to help them learn and grow. Carl Bruggemeier’s ideas on why failure can help you succeed – Failure: manifests determination; stimulates creativity; fully engages your brain; brings change; shows the strong from the weak; motivates you to try again; is an opportunity to learn; helps you avoid becoming complacent – are eight great reasons to face your fears and act. Do something. Even if you fail, you’ll know one more thing not to do the next time you are in a similar situation.
That’s my take on how today’s failure can lead to tomorrow’s successes. What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your failure to success stories with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
A proactive response to failure is impossible as long as you see failure only in negative terms. Success and failure are forever connected just like peanut butter and jelly, salt and pepper, night and day, plus and minus, and black and white. The most dynamic and progressive people and corporations are those making productive use of failures by motivating appropriate responses.