Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2016-02-02) from his book, 3 Things Successful People Do: The Road Map That Will Change Your Life (p. 117). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. ( Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Is this you?   Do you seem to keep hitting the same wall? John says, “ If you keep hitting the wall, it may be time to back up and look for the door. If you keep taking the same detour, maybe it’s not a detour but your main road. However, when you experience failure after failure but your dream burns within you just as strongly as ever, keep going. Also recognize that some of the greatest accomplishments of life literally were birthed out of failure.” He then says, “For example, look at the life of John James Audubon. He is considered a pioneer in wildlife study and preservation. But in the early 1800s, he was merely an unsuccessful shopkeeper in Louisville, Kentucky. He attempted to support himself and his wife, Lucy, in that occupa

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2016-02-02) from his book, 3 Things Successful People Do: The Road Map That Will Change Your Life (p. 116). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. ( Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) This matter of failing forward is such an important thing to believe and do.    In a continuation of this thought on people taking failure personal John says, “They start saying to themselves, ‘Why can’t you do anything right?’ or ‘You shouldn’t have tried; you knew you couldn’t do it,’ or ‘See that; you’re a failure!’ John then says, “But there is a huge difference between saying ‘I have failed’ and ‘I am a failure.”   Someone who has failed can learn from her mistakes and move on. It doesn’t change who she is. But the person who tells himself, ‘I am a failure,’ gives himself little hope of improvement. No matter what he does or where he goes, his failure stays with him because he has internalized it. He makes it an inseparable part

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2016-02-02) from his book, 3 Things Successful People Do: The Road Map That Will Change Your Life (p. 114). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. ( Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) John in this book is dealing with success and he asks a question that many of us would ask, “Doesn’t success mean avoiding failure?”   And that seems like a good question. But John says, “The answer is no. All of us fail. As we travel, we all hit potholes, take wrong turns, or forget to check the radiator. The only person who avoids failure altogether is the person who never leaves her driveway. So the real issue is not whether you’re going to fail. It’s whether you’re going to fail successfully (profiting from your failure) or allow failure to send you on a permanent detour. As Nelson Boswell observed, ‘The difference between greatness and mediocrity is often how an individual views mistakes.’ If you want to continue on the success journ