In the previous Secret of Highly Productive People, I focused on tracking progress, but what if there isn’t any progress to track? What if you find yourself going backward in your quest to reach a goal? What if the data tells you things aren’t going well? What happens if you fail?
In the case of Highly Productive People, the term when you fail may be more effective than if you fail.
Over the years, I have coached hundreds of very successful people. Failure, at one time or another, is something they have all had in common. My guess is that you have failed at some point yourself.
Failure can be crippling. It can suck the life out of you and leave you dying on the side of the road of life. I know. I have been there.
Failure is only an end if you allow it to be. Failure can be a beginning, a learning experience. Highly Productive People use failure to help them succeed.
Failure – To not succeed. To end without success
There are many times when Highly Productive People do not succeed. You could even say they fail but the key is, they don’t remain in that state. If they were to quit (or end) without success, they could be labeled a failure, but they don’t quit. They don’t end without success. They get up and get on. They learn and take action based on what they have learned. Then they succeed.
John Maxwell details how failure can lead to success in his book, Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success.
