FAILURE....IS IT AN OPTION?

Did you ever wonder why? Why do some business achieve success, why do others break-even, and why do a lot of others fail? First and foremost, I support the philosophy that if you are going to be successful, you must take the word “failure” out of your vocabulary.

Encarta Dictionary (North America) Definition of Failure: “Lack of success in art or at something; something less than that required; somebody or something that is unsuccessful; lack of development or production....”

Encarta Dictionary (North America) Definition of Success: “Achievement of intention; attainment of fame, wealth, or power; something that turns out well; somebody who is wealthy, famous, or powerful because of record of achievement...”

Note: Nowhere, I repeat nowhere, does the definition of success mention the word “failure;” however the definition of failure directly cites “lack of success” and “unsuccessful”....hmmmm?

My point being...in case you missed it...is that “unfailure (okay that’s actually not a word...but),” or “lacking in failure” is not included in the definition of success; therefore when you are speaking of, or seeking to, achieve success, the word failure is not even a part of the “definition” of success!

My daughter, who is in middle school, came home from school the other day showing me a test she had taken earlier in the week. One of the questions she got wrong, with a big red check mark, asked what the opposite of success was and her answer was that it depends on how one defines success. The teacher wrote the word “failure” in big red letters and circled it indicating that it was the appropriate answer. When she showed me her paper, my daughter and to her credit, reiterated a conversation we had recently whereby I told her that the word “failure” was not in our vocabulary. I was proud that she had absorbed the message of our conversation; however what was more alarming was the big red circle around the word failure that her teacher so decidedly enunciated on her paper...but that’s a different discussion for another time.

I sincerely believe if you talked to the most successful people in business today, failure is a word that you will not find in their vocabulary; written or spoken.

So if “failure” is not part of my vocabulary or is not a word that is written or spoken in a successful person’s vocabulary, why am I writing about it?

My goal here is to issue a challenge to all of you who are reading this post to answer the question: If you were to eliminate the word failure from your vocabulary, then what would be the opposite of success?


Next Time: Manifestation & Positive Affirmations. . . .