Failure is a word that carries a lot of weight. In fact, it can have so much power that it will stop a man from succeeding because of the assimilations associated with the word. According to WordNet, failure has several meanings, but despite those we often see failure as a lack of achievement in whatever we do.

I did too.

I was wrong. And I will tell you why.

See, for most of us, failure is missing out on; that academic recognition, the promotion at work, the riches in our business or the sports medal we couldn’t win.

What failure isn’t:

The word failure has a sour by-taste. It makes us crawl into a tight space. We are ashamed. We cry. We rant. We become angry and bitter.

And while most people eventually move on with their lives and achieve something, some never will and those are the true failures. Because failure is NOT - your missed promotion at work. Failure is also NOT - your lack of success in your first business venture, unless of course you… (scroll down to the definition for the answer).

All those are mistakes we can learn from. Some are massive mistakes, some are small and others yet are downright stupid. I used to be afraid of making mistakes, of making a fool of myself as I called it. I was ashamed of doing something wrong and as a result of this fear I missed out on a lot of opportunities.

It took me many years to learn that I shouldn’t be afraid of mistakes. Quite the opposite really. Once I learned that mistakes help me to grow, both as a person and in business, I learned to embrace them and treat them for what they are…

… namely a vehicle to move ahead another step.

The sad thing is that we are only too ready to label somebody a failure. Doing this doesn’t help the other person. In fact, we would be better off to encourage others, no matter how small a battle we think they fight. For them it could be a mountain.

Let me show you a typical example:

I received the following email the other day. This person is obviously desperate and has taken the time to email me, asking me for help.

pls i am very good at writing most especially christian article, how can i make my money with this. i want a very good details in an aesier way.

thanks,

I will be honest. My first impulse was to delete the email, since I clearly saw that his English wasn’t up to par, but then I hesitated, because I didn’t know this person, his background, his circumstances.

Who am I to turn him down, just because his English isn’t up to par from what I see in the email? He might have been stressed, or crying for fear of not being able to pay the bills, or he might be a great writer in another language.

If I am the only person he might trust with his hopes to help nudge him in the right direction, then turning him down by ignoring his email would be devastating.

While I’m a firm believer that only we as individuals can make a difference in our lives, I also believe that we need to help encourage each other. We need to nurture our spirits by empowering others. Especially if they reach out to us.

So while we class making mistakes as failing, true failure is something else and I tell you what in a second.

True failure is…

Giving up!

If you are being rejected, experience setbacks, feel disappointment or are unsuccessful in trying something, you are not a failure.

Real failure is when you stay down after you tripped or stumbled. Failure is when you shut down and simply check out. Failure is when you give up!

As long as you persist and try, you cannot be a failure, you are a winner, regardless of the outcome and that is why I say I run a successful home business.

I might not make the millions I dream about (just yet), I also might not earn $20,000/month (just yet), but I do work from home, following my dream and am making enough money to pay my bills - even though I failed in MLM. I failed because I gave up MLM. But I didn’t fail my home business, all I did was change tactics and it worked.

What can you learn from this?

I hope that this changes your beliefs in regards to failure if they were somewhat tangled up. Remember to help encourage others when they come to seek your help, regardless of what you think. Wonders never cease to happen and as you already know, the human mind is an amazing and very powerful weapon against defeat.

Fight on. Keep on going. Battle away. And never give up. Unless you really want to. By the way, it is ok to fail too, after all why bother pushing on in the wrong direction when it clearly isn’t the right path for us.

You also might find this story very thought provoking.