FAILURE

Every year October rolls around and we have the World Series.  This is baseball’s version of a world champion.  Two teams have played hundreds of games and earned the right to compete in a seven game series to see who the best team is that year.

Baseball is a fascinating sport because you are considered a very good batter when you fail more times than you succeed.  Imagine being in a job where if you are successful 4 out of 10 times you are considered extremely successful.  Maybe this is true even in business in some arenas.  Maybe this is true in parenting and our other personal relationships.

What causes the baseball player to enter into a slump?  They start believing and playing a mental tape that says they are never going to hit.  Author Maxwell Maltz in his book The New Psycho-Cybernetics states:  “A mistake is just a mistake.  We must use rational thinking to achieve perspective, to rise above these paralyzing mental hazards.”  Maltz is asking if we allow the negative “failure” tape to continue to play or do we choose to replace it with a positive tape that will help us change direction?

When the baseball player lets one strike-out get to him then he has not taken the time to coach himself and not allow that one strike-out to define him for the entire game.  Maybe a salesperson continues to get “no” after “no” and therefore begins to believe no one will ever buy from him.  Will this become a self-fulfilling prophecy?  Possibly.  What if instead he decides to picture himself closing multiple deals?  As he envisions that he will then start acting as if success will happen and it begins to.

Obviously there are many things in life we cannot control, but we can control our response to what life brings our way.  Will we choose to let mistakes or failures define us or use them as opportunities to learn and grow?    In his book Failing Forward leadership expert John Maxwell provides a helpful comparison between failing forward and backward.

Whether it is something in your personal or professional life, are you failing forward and growing?  Are you replacing the negative thoughts with positive thoughts?  Do you need to take a risk that may be a failure, but ultimately lead to success?  Whatever you are facing the reality is you will not have an opportunity to succeed unless you take a swing.

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