“Come on baby finish what you started” – Van Halen

This is post 4 in my quest for 30 in 30.

Yesterday I wrote part 1 of this 2 part series** about failure. In it I presented a few of my ideas about the subject. You can see the previous post here but as a quick catch up I explained how I feel that failure is a very personal thing and that the best policy is to not judge yourself by someone elses definition of what failure is. Better to always establish your own standards and live by those. If by chance however you and I were to share the same definition of failure it would be one of the following:

1. Failure to start

2. Failure to finish.

Since part 1 was dedicated solely to the first, let’s jump right into the second, the failure to finish.

What most people consider to be failure is really just the failure to finish what you started. Giving up is really the only other way to fail besides not trying. I love using the story of the light bulb to illustrate this. Thomas Edison could have scrapped the idea of lighting the world after his 5000th light bulb prototype didn’t work. Instead he kept trying. He figured out what might have been wrong and gave it another go. Had he given up at #7000 or threw in the towel at #9500 then he would have failed. He didn’t though. He kept on working.

Far too often we accept an unsuccessful attempt at something as a failure when the failure comes only in not trying again. So let’s for arguments sake say that you were overwhelmingly motivated by part 1 of this series and you threw your hat into a ring you’ve been wanting to get into. Well first, congratulations. You’re in the game. So far, you have not failed. Feels pretty good doesn’t it? So what’s next? Simple. Keep playing.

If this is a new game for you you need to know that there’s a learning curve. Not everything is going to be exactly like you envisioned it at first and no that’s not a reason to have waited to jump in. Regardless of how long you waited or how long you planned, the learning curve would be the same. Now it’s going to take a bit of practice, a bit of patience and a lot of persistence. Combine those with adaptability and an open mind and you simply can not fail. The adaptability is key here. You need to maintain the ability to see your idea not only for what it is but also for what it could be.  You have to have an open mind to the things that your original idea could become. Then, you need to keep working every day until your reach your goal or or some adaptation of it that came up along the way.  This is going to take patience but remember, nothing great ever just happened overnight. Any and every successful endeavor took the patience and persistence of those who worked on it

Now there is one possible pitfall to working this way and that’s the “Dead Horse Syndrome” defined as sticking with a project that isn’t working but not adapting in any way from the original ineffective idea. Keep in mind that your original concept was only meant to be a starting point for something greater. By not keeping yourself open to changes your digging yourself into a rut that’s eventually going to wear you out and beat you into submission until you eventually drop it. Remember that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. Do this and you really are setting yourself up for failure because you’ll never be able to finish.  It’s a very fine line to walk because you don’t want to abandon a good idea before it’s time but if you hold on to it too tightly you won’t get anywhere. You’ll just burn out. It’s a delicate balance but once you find it you’ll have everything you need to keep with it until you get the results you want. As long as you do this, even unsuccessful attempts won’t be considered failures.

This idea is best summed up in a quote by Edison regarding his multiple adaptations to an original idea which says  ” I have not failed. I’ve only found 10,000 ways that won’t work”.  As long as you’re in the game and you’re always open to changes new possibilities, you will succeed. It will be impossible to fail.

**As a continuation to this series I’ve decided to extend it to three parts. Tomorrow, part 3 will be about how to avoid failing via the fear of success.

Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.

-JB
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Today’s music: Finish What Ya Started
by: Van Halen
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