How to Avoid Failure and Guarantee Success

The saddest failure of all is the failure to try.

Most people live lives of quiet desperation, a great writer once said. In this, he acknowledged that the vast majority of people do not believe enough in their dreams to pursue them.

Back in the 70’s and 80’s a phrase came out that gently addressed this issue. It’s a question you ask yourself when you want to find out what you really want to do with your life.

That question is, “What would you do if you KNEW you could not fail?”

Would you start training to be the next Olympic champion?

Would you go skydiving, snorkeling, or white-water rafting?

Would you approach that cute girl (or guy) at work and ask her out on a date?

Would you start your own business?

Would you sit in meditation seeking enlightenment?

What WOULD you do if you KNEW you could not fail?

Along a similar line, what would you do if you KNEW you could overcome any obstacles that came up?

This question is interesting because of a basic principle by which I have lived my life. “You never really fail until you give up trying.”

You see, very few of us ever get anywhere without running into an obstacle or two. Watch any toddler learning to walk and note how many times they ‘fail’ and fall down. Do they stop? NO!! They get right back up again and try again. And again, and again, and again, until they master the skill they desire — walking.

Do you remember when you learned to drive? How many times did you ‘fail’ and do something ‘wrong’? I know I did quite a few things wrong until I finally mastered that skill.

You could talk to any successful person and almost every single time, they’ll tell you that they struggled for years before they finally “made it”.

Walt Disney went to over 300 banks before he found the financing needed for Disney World.

Thomas Edison tried thousands of different combinations before he figured out the electric light bulb.

And here’s the kicker.

When asked by a reporter why he continued to pursue electric light when he had failed so many times, Edison replied, “But I have not failed. I have successfully found XX thousand ways that do not work.” (XX — the number is different in various accounts, but it doesn’t really matter.)

“I have successfully identified 10,000 ways that do not work.”

Definitely puts a different perspective on things, doesn’t it?

The lesson is simple. Just because you’ve failed in the past doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It just means you haven’t found the way that works for you.

Many people have tried using the Law of Attraction to create desired circumstances in their lives, and many of them have ‘failed’. Some have even gone so far as to say it doesn’t work.

But you and I know differently, don’t we?

They just haven’t found the magic combination that works.