Not this class, or any of your other classes necessarily. I'm talking about failing in a general sense. Failing at something you think you want.
Failure is something that happens to everyone at some point, but this doesn't mean it is unavoidable. In fact, failure can be fairly well predicted. Consider the following list of the ten most common predictors of failure. Does anything sound familiar?
1. It’s not your passion. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing.
2. You don’t have a plan. You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That can includes a time management plan, a financial plan, or a strategic plan.
3, You’re waiting for everything to be perfect. Instead: test-drive it. Beta-test that new idea. You’ll fall into the trap of inaction if you think it has to be absolutely right from day one.
4. You’re not willing to work hard. Sorry, but everything worth pursuing in my life has involved discipline and perseverance.
5. It’ll outgrow you. Keep learning. Keep growing. But more importantly, build a team of people including leaders that can be who you’re not.
6. You’re banking on successes from the past. I’ve watched organizations hang on to a good idea for too long. Time passes. Momentum fades. It’s risky to let go of the past and jump on the next wave.
7. You’re unwilling to stop doing something else. Complexity is easy. Simplicity takes discipline. You can’t build a healthy marriage if you’re unwilling to give up dating other people.. Who/what do you need to stop dating?
8. You tend to do things alone. Anyone can hire from a resume. You need to find people you want to share life with. In the long run, great relationships will get you out of bed in the morning.
9. You won’t have the tough conversations. When breakdown happens (and it always does), someone needs to put on their big-boy pants and initiate the difficult conversation that leads to relational healing.
10. You’re afraid of failure. When fear consumes you, it will cause you to do stupid things. You’ll let negativity distract you. You’ll embrace the known, and grow comfortable with mediocrity. The more often you fail, though, the more often you’ll find success.
I think this is a really great list to work through when embarking on a new and challenging initiative. Agree/Disagree? Any thoughts on what may be missing from this list?
51 comments:
I think the first one is the most important factor: It’s not your passion. It's hard to succeed at doing something that you just don't care for all that much. You might be competent at doing something that you're not passionate about. But if you're just going through the motions to complete something, it is not necessarily a success. In order to get a sense of accomplishment, you have to pass your own test. Whatever it is you're doing might not even impress anyone else but if it is something you love doing and you work at because you want to accomplish it, then that is success. The one that afflicts me personally the most would be #10 You’re afraid of failure. Being afraid of failure has kept me from going after certain things in the past and I know if you go into a situation expecting to fail, chances are likely that just by having that attitude, you will fail. Part of success is just the belief that you can do it and do your best. If you do fail, there still has to be something you learned from the experience that you should learn from so you can succeed the next time. However, it is easier said than done; for some poeple, it is hard to get past that fear sometimes.
It is very wise list of statements. I think most people know their weaknesses and shortcomings. But in my opinion the most difficult task in the life is to correct and to make better one's own self.
Your post is very interesting, especially the first point. I have my own private jewelry business which is very hard to run given the limited resources I have at this time but because I do love it so much that it keeps me up at night, I am constantly trying to expand this business. Additionally, as the second point says I have made a business plan which I have found extremely useful. Reading all the other reasons for failing is quiet interesting to me bcause I do agree with each one of them and have found that anywhere I have failed through-out my life has been because of one of those. Reason 8 I think is a strong one because I would never even have this business had I not allowed my boyfriend to be a part of it. A lot of it has come from him and it has made things a lot easier!!
My problem is I'm afraid of failure. I was thinking to sign up the miss chinese pageant couple years ago. However, I'm not confident, I'm afraid I'll be washed out in the first run because it will be a shame and really embarrassing since all my families and friends are keeping eyes on me. I have a lot of visions but most of them I didn't put efforts in. I want to be a super star; I want to participate singing contest; I want to go to Harvard. I decided to learn singing and dancing in order to sign in contest but I failed because after 2 months learning I gave up. I think it is impossible, just a dream. Since I wait too long to give action to accomplish it, momentum faded I automatically gave up. Harverd sounds like an impossible thing but I believe if study hard enough it can be reached. The reason for me to stop thinking that again is the high tuition.
I think that even though all ten of these reasons lead to failures, there is really one reason that is directly linked to failure and that is fear. I agree that passion is very important when it comes to success, if a person does not have passion in what he/she is doing, he/she is only capable of performing the tasks efficiently in the short run. In the long run, these tasks will become unbearable and he/she will lose the incentives to even carry out these tasks. However, i think that the presence of fear in a person is strong enough to destroy passion. If someone is so afraid of the consequences that result from their actions, he/she will not perform these tasks even if those are their passions. Also, if that person is consumed by the fear of failure and the fear of inability to succeed, he/she will not even try to perform those tasks. Therefore, I believe that although all 10 of these reasons can lead to failure, if one cannot get pass his/her fear, he/she will never succeed.
I think that the most important item on this list is afraid of failure and also being lazy or getting to comfortable. I see so many people day in and day out that work the same job, doing the same thing, interacting with the same people every single day. I myself work a 9-5 job for the last three years and I constantly ask myself why am I doing this ? My answer is because my job is paying for school and at this exact moment that is what I need. How often is it really that someone has passion for their job ? Don't most people work to provide food for their family or to have money to buy things that they need. I agree with many of the items on your list, but I also think that work is work and it is only realistic to realize not everyone is going to be passionate about what they do. If passion was the deciding factor then many jobs would not be filled, I mean the person cleaning bathrooms it not necessarily passionate but rather needs the job. I think your list should include need, a need to provide therefore not failing because that is not an option.
I strongly believe that a great majority of successful individuals performed highly in achievment based projects only by learning from past failures. Everyone fails at some point in their lives. The one who takes those failures and learns from them confidently can succeed in the future. There are a great list of reasons of why and how one can fail. Just like the video we saw in class, i think the most important characteristic of success is a positive opportunistic vision. An opportunistic vision can lead us in the right path because it does not just, allow us to move forward with postive motivation but also helps us learn from our failures. Vision is essential because it walks us through any situation. Positive vision of both the past and the future is the meaning of life and should be looked upon as the fundamental perspective of success.
It is very true that most people have great plans but they are not willing to work for it. "A vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is nonsense. A vision with action can change the world." I strongly believe in this quote; it is very important to have a plan and work towards achieving it. If someone has the right amount of determination and commitment, anything is possible.
I really like your list of the ten most common predictors of failure. Some of them describe things that predicted my failures in the past. As many people said, fear is a strong predictor of failure. The way you described it is all true. When people have a fear of failure, they tend to hold themselves back instead of putting all of their energy into a certain task. If people are holding back, it becomes very difficult for them to achieve success and reach their full potential. I think many of us are afraid of failure because we don't want to face the embarrassment and disappointment. I remember the countless number of times I've failed, and had to face the unwanted consequences. The feeling of failure isn't the greatest thing in the world.
I think this is a great check list in deciding whether or not to pursue something or in determining if you will fail or succeed at something. Another point that may be added is the simple question of, "Can I Do It?" Is what you want to do something you are capable of doing, whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally, or having to do with knowledge and skills. That aspect is very general and is probably the first thing people ask themselves. However, the 10 reasons mentioned in this post may not be as obvious and many people probably do not stop to think about these; hence they tend to fail. Like you said, failure isn't bad. From failure comes the success of learning through experice which is priceless.
I think one more thing I would add is Failure is preparation for success. No one wants to fail at something and feel like a loser or judged. But I think what escapes many of us is that once we fail we can reflect and figure out what went wrong and strive for a better chance next time around. I always think of Donald Trump when I think of failure and success. He went bankrupt and figured things out and now he's back on top. I can't imagine it was a simple task to reach the top again, but now that he knows how he lost it the first time, maybe he won't lose it again. I do have to say though it is a bit nerving when you feel you have a lot to lose if you fail. But like you said Beta-test it, and take your time, but don't be afraid to take action and FAIL.
I can definitely relate to this post by my journey of coming to Baruch. I was not motivated in high school so I often slacked off and did not get the grades I was capable of achieving. Though my SAT scores were up to par, I was not accepted to Baruch college due to my unwillingness to work hard and my poor academic performance during my Junior year of high school. I was declined admittance to Baruch a second time, my freshman year of college, as my transfer application got declined despite the fact i had a 3.6 GPA. However, I was not afraid of failure, nor did I get discouraged. I worked extra hard next semester and kept up my good grades and the highly anticipated acceptance letter felt that much better to read. Success surely does not come easy but it is important to stay focused and to never give up and you will have no choice but to prosper.
Wow, I suffer from every one of these points! What am I going to do?! Yes, success and happiness takes a lot of work and discipline, but the difficult part is developing the frame of mind to develop these goals and plans and passions and priorities. How can I learn to inspire myself? What do I look for?
Time and time again have I thought about what I want to do as a career and what I have the most passion in doing. I've spoke with my co-workers, my friends, and my family about it. All I know is right now, I'm in a major where I have no passion for. I don't know what it is that I want to do as a career. Most of the people around me seem to have a plan and know what they want and already out to reach that goal whereas I'm still at point blank. It does get very depressing sometimes when I think about this.
But in terms of the other points, I don't believe I'm afraid of failing. I take failure as another lesson to benefit from and better myself from those failures. People who are afraid of failure are hindered to put their best foot forward and give it a shot. It's that feeling of uncertainty about themselves and lack of confidence along with that fear of failing that stops people from making great accomplishments. Just try. You never know what you might get out of trying.
Right now I am hoping that I find something I'm passionate about in my major, something that would encourage me that this is the right path I'm walking down. I'm not afraid of failing, as long as I know how to pick myself back up on my feet and try again.
You can’t be afraid to fail—this is the way you succeed.Failure is your friend. Every failure is simply an experience. Experiments are set up to see what results occur and to learn from doing them. Failure has a wonderful way of teaching you lessons, sometimes very painful lessons, that you can use the next time you tackle a problem.No one starts off being the best at something. Failure only makes you stronger. I have made so many mistakes in my life and each has made me a stronger person coming out of them. LIKE you first learnt to walk after falling down thousands of times. In order to really succeed at anything you have to not be afraid to fail.
I think failure is part of life and you learn from failure. I remember when I was young my parents used to tell me in Chinese, "If you've never fell down then you won't know how to get back up." I think we can avoid failure but I also think failure makes who we are as people. I think these 10 reason are really true especially #1 about it not being your passion. Passion gives us reason to succeed in something because by succeeding it is what makes us happy. Also having a good support team is really true because I feel if you have good people that won't point you in the direction you can succeed in anything you want.
Being an artist and sculptor I always calculate failure into my projects. My friends think I’m pessimistic for thinking about failure. But I think I’m just being smart. There’s always a chance of failure, and when I calculate failure into my projects I can find my way around it much quicker. Failure is never a surprise for me, because I always see it coming. I don’t just accept failure, I learn from it.
My friend once inspired me on facebook and said change is something you initiate. There is no change without yourself initiating your own momentum. I think it relates to failure because if someone never initiate his/her change, he would always be a failure. It's just like number 2 and 3, no plan and waiting for everything to be perfect. There is no success if one doesn't offer effort into working toward a goal.
The sad thing is that many of us may fall under these 10 reasons. On the contrary, staying optimistic and working hard at whatever it is we try to strive for should also be accounted for something. As the line stated, success is 99% failure. Failure is just a way to work harder on accomplishing your goal(s), not giving up. If anything, it should make you realize from any possible mistakes made. Take the job market, for instance. If the people who were laid off just sit in discouragement, they would be labeled a failure. If that same person tried other alternatives, maybe getting a better degree or taking a specific class, they might view the closing of a door as opening another one. Stay upbeat, and don't let temporary hurdles get you down is the moral of the story.
It's not your passion. That stands out so much to me. I came to Baruch hoping to graduate as an accountant and be this really successful businesswoman with a nice car and all that ish. But now I realized, I really hate business. I never do well in classes like accounting, economics, etc. Realizing what I actually like to do, I switched to graphics. I'm much happier here.
I actually mentioned about failures on the post after this but I guess there's no harm in mentioning it again. I definitely agree that through many failures, one can find success. I heard that Colonel Sanders (KFC founder) was refused 1,009 times before he heard his first yes in regards to selling his recipe, showing how his chicken is cooked and obtaining a percentage of additional sales. There's always that fear of failing which I'm very guilty of and when I do fail, I sometimes let it take over me which is not a good idea. Then I eventually realized it's a learned lesson and move on. I need to practice overcoming the depression quickly and learn to brush it off right away.
one of the points that really resonated with me is number 4: You are not willing to work hard. as you so concisely put it: "but everything worth pursuing in my life has involved discipline and perseverance. " this is very true. My family immigrated to America for a better life, a brighter future, and better education opportunities for me and my siblings. We know that in America, you can be anything or get anything as long as you work hard for it. If you are in some other country, than it might not be true, but it is very true in America. This is one of those countries where you do get rewarded for your hard work and there are no limiting factors or prejudices holding you back. and a lot of immigrants understand the value of hard work. most of the successful people in america will be immigrants because they have experienced the harsh realities of life, and know how lucky they are by being judged or measured by the amount of work they put into something.
and ofcourse, all of the other point also are all very true!
This list is very well put together and I love the first reason about doing something that is not your passion. Finding something you want to do with your life is difficult; going out into the world on your own when it's your choice is difficult; keeping that passion to keep pushing though the junk in life can be difficult as well. I like how some of the later reasons for failure include topics on relationships. having healthy friendships and relationships with those close to you is the best way to live through a healthy and happy life. The one thing about that is that those select people in this world that you've chosen as friends should be people who accept you for you, people who want to see you happy and successful. The fear of failure can certainly be a difficult one to overcome but like anything else, there is a way to overcome it.
i think this is a great list. on the journey to success, there will undoubtly be many failures. the key is to not let them distract you from your goals, postpone your pursuit of them or discoiurage you from making them a reality. a lot of people become discourage after a while of unsuccessful attempts and it is understandable. another way of looking at it, is that some dont simply just get discouraged, but they feel that they loose some of thier pride if they keep going at it again and again at the same thing. so it is very important to see that these failures are just normailities on the jouney to success. you cannt have an omelete without breaking a few eggs. another point i just want to make is that one of the items on your list is that you shouldnt try to look for the "right" time to do it. there is no right time and if you keep looking at it this way, there will always be something wrong with "now." dont postpone, do it now.
I agree with reason number one, If you are not passionate about a something then there is a chance you will fail. Though you may fail, It does not necessarily mean that you are headed in the wrong direction. There are always obstacles, and like the second on the list you must have a plan. Having a plan, allows you to persevere through those obstacles. "With Failure comes Success"
I really agreed No.3 "You’re waiting for everything to be perfect"
in my case. Perfection is one of my problem weather pro and cons. Thanks prof. I will print out this 10 things,and will keep that in mind. so I won't fail whatever I'm trying next time.
Your list was spot on! I've always looked at the things I've wanted to pursue and asked myself several of the questions you mentioned. I ultimately found that it wasn't my cup of tea due to several reasons (some being simple while others complex) which led me to envision what I want to do now. My biggest motivation was the first point you made: It's not your passion. I couldn't live with myself knowing I would be doing something I disliked for the rest of my career. In order to be successful you must be doing something you truly enjoy. Otherwise it's not fulfilling.
another factor that i believe contributes to failure is "over-confidence." very often people fall victim although they thought they had it in the bag. over-confidence is just as bad as lack of confidence, if not worse. i personally believe that a certain degree of humility is necessary for success
I agree this list is able to predicate the failure. I put these 10 elements in my real life, and either one can cause me failure. I think I can use this as a guide to action and avoid failure as far as possible.
Thank you for sharing this valuable experience.
One thing thing that I will like to add to this list, is staying optimistic. When failure happens, it is very easy to feel hopeless and give up. If you really want something and don't get it on the first shot, keep trying until you get it. It is something that I always think of when I don't get something i want. I am currently trying to get as internship in the Ad industry and it has not been easy, but I still plan to stick to it, until i achieve it. In regards to the post, I do agree with everything it advises. Everything worth getting takes work.
I agree with your list, but I also think that maybe failure can be looked at as a positive thing instead of a negative. One thing that I've learned about failure is that although it may seem like you're stuck in a really bad place at the time it happens, your ability to learn from that failure and grow from it will help you in the long run. Failing at something helps me realize what I did wrong and why I failed at a certain task, and helps me better prepare for another task so that I don't make the same mistake.
Failure is something that us inevitable for at least one thing you are trying to achieve. However a failure comes with lessons that will allow to rise up against failure the next time the situation arises. This is an integral part of your personality that comes with your own self confidence that allows you to look past failure.
Oh this is a such true life article! Unfortunately nothing is easy in this life. In order to be successful you have to work hard and not to take anything for granted. People tend to blame something else in their failure however most of times success is in our hands. We always have to work on our goals, try different things and not to have too many expectation. And of course, know hot to fail is also very important!
I think being afraid of failure is what really keeps everyone away from success. Failure can be one of the scariest things, just like rejection, but you always have to stand up and keep fighting. Not having enough passion, as mentioned in this list, also contributes to fear of failure. If you are VERY passionate about what you are trying to accomplish, this fear should go away. I can't remember how many times I wanted to start something, but was just too afraid it will not work out. However, I just learned to follow my gut feeling. If my gut says everything will be OK, I just block out the fear and go with it. So far, I have been spot on!
I agree with the list of reasons why people fail. The ones that stood out to me were 1 and 10. These were the two I could relate to the most. The first reason because I'm in Accounting, which I've heard is extremely boring. I'm not passionate about it, but I've been told I'm very detail oriented and analytical, which are great traits for an accountant. My ultimate goal is to become an entrepreneur, so I figured I would stick it out for now, and because I could use this knowledge to apply to my own business some day.
Reason 1 also reminded me of something I learned in Psychology known as flow I believe. Whenever a task is too challenging, people tend to give up and quit because they don't think it's possible. Whenever a task is too easy, people get bored and don't try. So you need the right amount of flow to captivate someones attention, which I feel relates to passion.
Reason 10 stood out because it's one of the things I believe really holds true. I love to fail when the consequences aren't too severe. It's the best way to learn for me. Whenever I fail, I go over where I went wrong, and always remember it from that point on. It's sort of like how people will always remember all the bad things you've done, but never any of the good.
I agree with all the points listed. The one that I found to stand out the most is that people don't plan. I feel that this is one of the first things people should do before doing anything. With a plan, you know whats in store for you as opposed to not knowing where to start or where to finish any specific task. Perhaps if people made a list such as this one before approaching a situation then the risk of failure was decline.
I also agree that the first factor seems to be the most important. If you do something you don't care to do too much, most of the time your work is far from excellent. If you have to do something that isn't your passion, try to find something about the topic that you like. It may help you have better success.
Hi Prof!
Although I agree with most of the list, I feel that is non of the items are particularly set in stone. Take the first one, its not your passion. I feel that success is very relative, and even though having a passion for what you do really helps, it does not mean that not having a passion will hurt. There are many middle management employees, I feel, that may not be thrilled with their jobs and may have a passion for something else. However, I feel that they still may enjoy enough their jobs and be good managers. Sometimes one must sacrifice passion for things like job security or for family pressures (I am not speaking from experiences just guessing). I would say hating the job you do is more damaging than not having a passion for it!
I agree with your list of reasons that we failure. But I dont think it's truth all the time. I am helping my mom running a nail salon and i learn that no matter how much passion you have at doing your work it does not alway turn out in the way you wanted. Simply because running a business is about organizing, controlling, leading and luck. Team member might not always agree with your ideas or ways of working. Some customer might stop doing their nails due to their own finacial crisis.
I have to say that I agree with the number one reason more than any other. Without passion, you wont success. . .because you won't really care. Without passion for the topic, a person will find themselves going through the motions, but the true desire to make the action a reality will prevent you from reaching your true potential. When a person is passionate about their topic/hobby/job, they will work harder because there will be more at stake. . .their heart.
I was surprised to find one of my tendency in your list. I tend to work alone. I tend to think that my idea is the best and if people don't agree, then I choose to work alone. I don't even try hard to pursuade others to choose my idea. I didn't do it probably because I thought it was just a waste of time. Sometimes I was successful and sometimes I was not. Looking back, I could be much more successful if I included people in my circle and got some idea or feedback from them. You are right. People need people. I am glad I finally realize that simple but important truth in life.
The list is well made and I can recognaze some of the points as personal reasons why sometimes I fail at something. But I just have to say that in many cases it is very hard to find motivation to do something. Faliures can be predictable but sometimes it reall depends of another person althogh you are motivated and eager to do the work.
I think that too many people are paralyzed by the fear of failure so they don’t even try. “It is easier to go down a hill than up it, but the view is much better from the top.” This means that by challenging yourself you will stay motivated, move close to achieving your goals, end enjoy life more.
This blog captures much that I've seen myself resort to and so many people nowadays have fallen victim to as well. As much as success is, in fact, my passion, sometimes I lose touch with the fact that it's not enough to necessarily have a 'want' or a 'need' to be fulfilled; I need to take part in bringing about a course of action paving towards that particular fulfilled goal. It's a crucial life lesson for just about everybody who has their eye on the prize but as great as it is to capture a sense of what you want, it's even more significant to have set in stone exactly how you're planning on getting to that prize. While the journey may be unpredictable and a little rocky, if it's a risk somebody's willing to take, the rocky road is worth it, at least that's what I've managed to get myself on point with.
This list seems to cover all aspect as to why we tend to fail so often. I believe most of the time we don't in fact put our heart into whatever it is we want to accomplish. Actually the majority of things are what is required of us to accomplish and not neccessarily something that we desire to. I know for a fact that if we don't feel motivated and completely give our 100% effort or look forward to accomplishing something we are most likely end up failing since we would eventually just give up.
Failure is something that nobody wants but will eventually happen to everbody at some point in time. I know speaking for myself, I have had my share of faiures and in lookig at the list, I keep looking at 2,4, and 10. When I was younger, I would often just try and finish a project or assignment as fast as I could. No plan or effort, just do the thing and get in over with. A learned later on that this doesnt work and I stopped doing it. As for the last one, we all afraid of failure but its how we deal with it that matters. Its important to conquer your fear because its make you a better and more productive person not only in the workplace but also in life.
Being afraid of failure is the point that really take my attention. When you are afraid of failing you won't take the risk to go for something even if it is a good idea and I have experienced that. In one of my other class we were given an assignment and it was 10 points worth my grade, but I was so afraid to fail one more time that I just decided not to do it but later on I found out that if I had submitted my work I would have succeeded. Also, if a job or a task is not your passion, this could led you to failure. However, I think that even if you do feel any passion you can still succeed in one thing if you put your mind to it.
This is a great list for people to learn from. If we read everything that is on this list and do the opposite, you have a chance of succeeding. We need to have a plan with a vision, filled with personal growing passion; with our willingness to work as hard as we could, accept help from others, not be scared and put everything we can out there, and conquer the challenges that we set forth for ourselves. This is great enthusiasm for everybody, whether it be managers, lawyers, or people who just want to conquer a personal goal.
I think that all the pointers were well written and are all the key components to failure. I agree with the fact that people sometimes hang onto ideas hoping that they will somehow work. Its always good to create new ideas and keep the one you want in the back of your head if there ever comes a time for it to be used. But if this moment never occurs than it should be left alone. It seems that a lot of people are afraid of something new because we all at some point become comfortable which i think is also a way to fail. When i was working at a job i could not stand working at anymore, i would always say that i was going to quit but it took me about 3 or 4 months later to realize that i was becoming comfortable and knew that i would not be able to move on to something better this way. This was almost a failure on my part if i did not come to this realization. I would have failed myself and my ability to manage my own success by going elsewhere.
Waiting I believe can be a big mistake. I think people should be impulsive from time to time and listen to their intuition, and follow what they believe. When something seems as if it is good but maybe if I wait a little more it will be even better and then usually after that you missed the opportunity and you regret it. If you are patient it doesn’t mean you will be a failure it just probably means you like to play it safe and make sure it the best time to do something. However I believe that almost every big success hides a lot of risks and decisions that were made in an instant.
I think that the biggest fear all of us students feel at this point in life is the fear of not accomplishing the goals we put. We dedicate so much time energy and money to educate ourselves in order to be successful one day that the fear of losing all of that consumes us. We don't want to find ourselves in the big world with a diploma that is worth nothing to us, we want to be able to use the knowledge that we acquire. We want to be proud of ourselves and make others proud of us, and that take major effort and some risk, and that is the biggest fear we are facing now.
Post a Comment