• The Fear of Failure…is Failure.
• Failure is not an option…it is a necessity.
• Failure is…the staircase to Success.

If your gonna do it...you might as well do it epic!

We hear many things that describe what success is, what it should be, how we should handle it when it comes, how to pursue it, etc.  One of the few things we hear about, and seem to always avoids when possible is the topic of Failure…especially when it is our own failure.  So, to start off with three bullet points that proclaim that failure is necessary may seem a bit odd and off-putting at first.

The fact is, failure is a necessity towards the achievement of success.  As the third bullet point states, the staircase to success is made of failure – and that makes sense if you think about it.  Success is the final destination for our plans or goals – (you do have plans and goals don’t you?).   The fact is, to actually get to the success we want, we must face that fact that along the way we will have some failure – that is, things will not go the way we hoped, ideas will not pan out, people will disappoint, or…maybe we will crash our dirt-bike.  The fact is, things are going to go wrong in varying degrees.  This “staircase to Success” does  not have uniform sized steps (don’t tell OSHA!), the failures that make up these steps vary from little almost unnoticeable little bumps, to eight foot wall-sized giants that you have to scale.

The fact is, these steps of failure are only steps as long as you are willing to do two things:

1.) Get back up and dust yourself off.

2.) Learn from the failure and use that knowledge to step up.

Remember, success is little more than getting up one more time then you fall down…and you will fall down.  As Soichiro Honda (founder of Honda Corporation) said – “Success is 99% failure”.

How true that is.

So how do we get into the proper frame of mind to build success on our failures and see those failures as lessons and/or directions that lead us to success?

One word: Humility.

Let me tell you an unflattering story about myself that demonstrates this: The other day a man selling magazines came to the door of my house – a door which my wife had placed a “Happy Easter” sign on.  Well, I am not too keen on door to door salesmen.  After an initial pleasant greeting by the man, I curtly asked if he was “selling something” and that I was not interested.  He kept smiling, said “God Bless!”, waved and went on his way.  I went back into my house smugly thinking that “I told him!”

What was blatantly obvious to everyone but me, however, was that I had been rude and frankly disrespectful to a man who was just trying to make a living in a very difficult job in a very bad economy.  My wife was quick to point this out (I thank God for her!) – I quickly realized just how awful I had failed in a relationship with another human being. I had missed an opportunity to speak life into another persons day.

Some think that avoiding failure is paramount; so much so that it is to be avoided at all costs. This is actually a form of destructive pride.  Humility is understanding that we are not perfect (not even close), that we have things to learn, we need to grow, that we have weaknesses and missing parts, and most importantly we are nearly blind most of the time.  That being the case, our failures are a teacher that helps us to see better, and to see our own areas of need.

What should my next response be after realizing how I had failed (and had failed to even notice it without my wife’s help)? Well, I could sit and stew about it, try to rationalize it, or I could learn from it and remember the next time I have to answer the door for a salesman  not forget to put myself in the place of the other person before I speak or act.

The bigger lesson here is: Humility in our failure allows us to Learn from it, and Grow big enough to take the next step.

Reality is only too willing to leave us at the step we are at – and allow us to keep falling until we are ready to grow a bit more.

Failure.  Embrace it as a teacher and the map to all of your success.

-DTM

Run Forrest, Run!

And with that we see a poignant story about a unique man who seemingly walks into fame and fortune without even noticing. This man, Forrest Gump, from his name to his demeanor seems ridiculous, and retarded. But, as his momma told him…Stupid is, as stupid does.

I could not help but notice deep truths that were buried in this gem of a movie/novel that has been part of some serious political discussions and even controversy. What I want to focus on is how a simple man of simple truths can indeed walk through life and push the problems it brings with it aside almost as if those problems were nothing more than smoke.

The first truth that Forrest utters we have already quoted: “Stupid is as Stupid does…” The fact that Forrest is a bit slow is completely balanced by the fact that he believes in black and white truth. Stupid people are those who do stupid things – and it is ironic that it is Jenny he says this too first, as she epitomizes stupidity throughout the movie with every act she takes, except for the one of being Forrest’s friend, and at the end of the movie, finally his love.

The other thing that Forrest does is that he never accepts failure, in fact he is incapable of even imagining what failure is. He simply does whatever he does. Once he has decided on a course, he simply does it, obstacles are nothing more that a challenge that has to be met, without any consideration of being stopped by them. In other words, do…or do not. Anything else is just you standing in the way.

There are many other things in this story that I could point to, but these two are the real gems that if we put into practice in our own lives, will lead to success in our endeavors:

1.)Don’t do stupid things.
2.)Whatever you have decided to do, do.

Ability varies, education is not wisdom, and unemployed geniuses can be found on every street corner. The truth is that those who succeed have decided that they will succeed long before they even set their hand to their next project.

Success is as Success does.

David T. McKee

I am trying something out on one of my other blogs – www.mckeecopywriting.com

Basically I am posting a story, a “Science Fiction Fantasy”, that will have a new chapter every few days or so. The idea is to advertise items that may interest you around the story to see how clicking and purchasing decisions are effected by a good story.

I believe that stories affect many things on our live – from what and how we buy, to how we live, and ultimately the legacy we leave behind. This was the view of the Celtic Storytellers “Seannachaidh” or Bards as we know them today. This was the method Jesus used when telling His Parables.

I believe it is the method we need to use to motivate ourselves to ever greater levels of success and fulfillment – and ultimately is how we decide if and when we will achieve greatness.

So read a story – or go write one!

David T. McKee

For a successful life in business and anything else, a major requirement is that you are not just happy, because happiness is a momentary thing that comes and goes with circumstance.  No, what is needed is that solid, immovable, inner quietness -more even than peace, the only word that works here is…Joy.  Mot people, (myself included) don’t really have a grasp on what the word means, we throw it around in our speech, but usually we are talking about some aspect of happiness, and not true joy.

And then we hear some o-jumbo “mystical” explanation of joy and never really understand it,but we nod our heads because while we know we don’t know…we also feel that there is something about joy that is bigger than us, something really important – something we really need to look at.

So of course we try to run away from it as fast as we can.  We are only human -you can’ really expect us to have Joy?

Now, because this blog is about success in life and business I usually tend to stay away from what you might call the “spiritual” aspects of life (at least overtly), but the problem is human beings (regardless of what some might say) are spiritual beings.  Joy is made from spiritual stuff.  And I hate to break it too you, but if you were actually completely without any joy whatsoever, you would be dead – yes…physically dead.

At the bare bones level you have something that motivates you to at least breath, so that your heart pumps blood, call it the “spark of life” call it “motive force” but at some level you are alive – when you die and the doctor calls time of death – whatever that spark was, is gone.

That spark is the essence of joy.  Through pain, through pleasure, through agony and ecstasy, Joy exists as the motive force.

As as such, you must have it to succeed in life.  So, what do we do to increase our joy? How do we understand what it is, where it is, and how to separate joy from merely being happy?

Well, I got the answer today from the young man with the crazy hair (sometimes it’s black, sometimes it’s blond…) in the picture here.

Well, actually he just passed the message on to me from a …”higher” source

Stop complaining.

Pastor Steven Furtick

That’s it. Just stop complaining about how bad you got it, stop worrying about what you don’ have, take what you do have and use it with what you do know.  Joy is the fact that we are alive and we can move.  Choose to move forward.

The man in the picture, by the way, is Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church (www.elevationchurch.org), my church, in Charlotte NC.  It was the second fastest growing church in America last year with three campuses – the man knows what success is, he is only 28 years old!  Now he would tell you that success, real success, is knowing who you are in relationship to God, and that is true.  But I want to focus on joy for the moment.

Without that quiet, strong supporting foundation of joy, you will not have the power to overcome the difficulties to succeed in life or in business, or anything else.  You have to at first recognize that every moment of life is a gift and be willing, despite your circumstances, to use that gift to move you toward some goal.  Life is movement, and Joy is the engine that life uses to move forward.

So this is going to be hard, good stuff usually is… To stop complaining both on the outside, and on the inside.  What do we have to complain about?  How many of us have food to eat every day? how many have a place to sleep, cloths to wear.  You have heard all of this before, but this time I want to you to understand that our complaining actually lowers and limits our joy – bringing us to a lower level of success.  Our ability to think intentionally about those things we want to succeed in is directly in proportion to the inner joy that transcends all feelings we have.

Joy is the stuff our true success is made from.

David T. McKee

Purpose: it's out there somewhere...

I was recently having a discussion on the Warrior Forum about the difference between the meaning of the word Purpose and Goal.

It got me to thinking about how words can mean such different things to different people, especially when closely examined. To the persons I was having the discussion with, Goal was the over-arching “thing” to which our life strived for and purpose was how to get to that thing.

But that sounds completely backwards to me and to most people I know.  To me, goals are markers or sign-posts that you set on your way to some achievement, but purpose is what gives you the world-view you have and is what is behind the achievements that you choose to go after.  Strange how the concepts can be flipped – but also, I did not hear this person clearly say that whatever your ultimate “thing” is, that is what drives to choose the accomplishments that you want.

At any rate, here is the dictionary definition of Purpose:

–noun

1.	the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.

2.	an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.

3.	determination; resoluteness.

4.	the subject in hand; the point at issue.

5.	practical result, effect, or advantage: to act to good purpose.

–verb (used with object)

6.	to set as an aim, intention, or goal for oneself.

7.	to intend; design.

8.	to resolve (to do something): He purposed to change his way of life radically.

We read about how important it is to crystallize our purpose statement so we have a firm grasp on what it is we are living for – to make life affirmations so that we end up knowing that when we get to the top of “ladder of success” we have placed that ladder on the correct wall.

–DTM