If success in any endeavor is to be accomplished, then failure must be embraced as well. As you have already seen, failure is a constant in the lives of successful people and, in fact, is often a precursor to their success. Anytime we view failure as the “final word,” we rob ourselves of an incredible future that might have been ours.
When as an engineer for 3M Corporation, Spencer Silver set out to create hype-bonding glue, his reputation was at stake. He had been the lead researcher on many successful adhesives that 3M had branded and sold in the past. This time, however, the “king of stickiness,” as his coworkers called him, produced an adhesive that was flabby, weak, and consistently dry. Despite the laughter of his colleagues, Spencer noticed two distinct qualities of this particular failure: the adhesive could be used again and again, and it left no residue on any surface as it was removed.
Perhaps because of these two qualities, Spencer patiently (and with good humor) endured the workplace jokes and determined that he would share his discovery with everyone in the office. One of his coworkers, a man named Arthur Fry, sang in his church choir and was often aggravated by losing his place in the hymnal. Having heard about Spencer’s failure, Arthur Fry saw an immediate use for an adhesive that could be removed easily, didn’t leave a residue, and could be used repeatedly.
Post-it Notes became a huge success! But first . . . they were a failure. Failure is often the pathway to something greater than expected. In fact, you can reliably depend upon failure as a pathway to new perspectives and new ideas. So put the “agony of defeat” in its proper place . . . a place of honor! After all, the “thrill of victory” is just one more reward for the person who rightly sees failure as a learning experience, a mill for ideas, and an opportunity to prove to ourselves, and others, that we are adaptable, imaginative, and strong.”
BOTTOM LINE:
FAILURE IS THE ONLY POSSIBILITY FOR A LIFE THAT ACCEPTS THE STATUS QUO. WE EITHER MOVE FORWARD>>>>>>, OR WE DIE!
merlin now: Sorta reminds me of the high school kid back in late 60’s who was working for the two inventors of what in time became Weed-Eater, that back in the beginning, were short on funds and offered him stock in their idea (forget the percentage, certainly less than a third) if he’d stay on without pay until they were successful. He declined. FYI, I’ve not seen either his book of Regrets or a similar You Tube about it either.
FYI: I can’t resist writing the following scenario. In Republic of Panama, you rarely (virtually never) see any form of a lawnmower here because of the rocky terrain, assuredly death either by bent/broken blades or spindles, not to mention always being stuck as are the genetically helpless 2 WD Zero-Turn mowers. I’ve seen several 21″ push / self-propelled variety. You gotta really appreciate the simplicity of beginning a lawn care “gardening”business here in Panama. You can begin with a Stihl weed eater, a machete, and a plastic rake. And a gas jug. As you grow, you may in time get a bicycle, then a small motorcycle, so you can carry more tools. I have yet to see a Steiner, or a Venture, and never a pickup pulling a van loaded with tools.
Stihl Weed-Eaters appear to have captured 95% of the weed eater market in Panama, ranking right up there with the machete! Neither do I see any Bush Hogs for grooming acreages, except maybe on larger cattle farms. Here, Stihl weed eaters do it all with string. I have yet to see or hear any whirling plastic blades . That’s all I ever used in OH.
With monetary resources for a 3/4 ton truck, a Venture, and a van, you could move directly into an excavation business, but seemingly much more popular, is private transportation. Skip the rickeshaws here, go directly first to an old Corollas taxis, then the recycled US school buses, some that are dressed to the gills with exquisite paint jobs and unreal lighting schemes, that eventually morph into new 20+ passenger Toyota & Kia vans. The ultimate chassis now for these accomplished upwardly mobile privately funded entrepreneural owners and operators are these new Kia and Hyundai pusher buses.
Apparently Panama is niche market without any republic incentives. Much like our OH Yoder-Toters, but no one here has organized and implemented the Pioneer Trails model play book here yet, principally because Panamanians are so unscheduled! You just go to a bus stop and when a passing bus for your destination has space for you, or your seat’s occupant is getting off, you can hop on. I’m not at all sure how it all works, but it is apparently yet thriving!
NEXT UP: An Endless Webb of Decisions, Cern, Geneva, Switzerland, 1980 I never knew the history.