Learn,Share,Grow

I recently found one of my favorite articles from marketing guru Mike Michalowicz. He gave a completely logical, yet odd, comparison to failure and pine cones. Hundreds of pine cones may fall from the pine tree, but only a few actually turn into trees. The same goes for failure. A person can fail hundreds of times before that “one more try” turns into a success. What made your attempts successful? The fact that you never quit. The fact that you used your failures, as stepping stones, which created the path to help you succeed?

Make a list of your pine cones. Your pine cones should be “failed” fruits of your labor. When I say failed, it is referring to something that did not just quite turn out as planned. An idea that never got off the ground, but may have turned into something else. A project that you started, but never finished. A class that you signed up for but something kept you from going. All the “failed” attempts are actually heading you down the path to your goal. Look back at what was accomplished because of your attempt, not at what wasn’t.

Sometimes in life the goals, plans and dreams may be sidetracked because of life itself. It may not be the right time, place or person. That doesn’t mean that those things will never come along. But, if you give up on any of it, rest assured it will never come. When you give up on you so will everyone else.

Embrace your “pine cones”. Embrace your failures. Learn from them, grow from them and succeed because of them.