How to Fail Admirably
by Ruth Marlene Friesen
I bet you have already asked, "If I fail at my
business, is God punishing me?"
Utterly embarrassing, isn't it?
How about if I show you what I learned from a super-
duper failure of my own? However, I promise not to
depress you as I analyze it. We'll take an upbeat
perspective.
Just as I have written about the value of struggles,
let's not resent them, or go to the garden to eat
worms. You and I are still loved and unique people in
God's eyes, and if we don't let the failure seize us
up into knots, we can learn from it and be much
better for it.
The Bible mentions that if we judge or evaluate
ourselves, we won't need to suffer the judgments or
consequences of our mistakes. Don't be afraid to look
for your mistakes objectively. If you can detach
yourself emotional from the failure and find the root
cause or causes of it, you'll soon see how to correct
them. This may be the biggest hurdle of all; getting
humble enough to face our mistakes without flinching.
I had a crazy idea to throw myself a "Shower" on my
web site back in 2000. A business shower based on the
housewares home-party idea. I'd invite all my friends,
and the media, and they would investigate my site to
find products from my affiliates. If they purchased
some I would get started making commissions, and earn
certain president's club benefits.
About half the friends invited came. No media showed
up, but then I had only sent out press releases on
Thursday night and a couple on Friday morning. I got
myself exhausted on Friday, checking stats every few
minutes, and making Journal entries on my mood.
Saturday afternoon I curled up in a favorite chair
to evaluate and pray about my fiasco.
Once I recognized the fact that I hadn't handled the
publicity angle right, I felt liberated, and decided
immediately that I would make it a goal to learn this
well. On the heels of that decision followed new ideas
and plans. I revised my schedule to work them in, and
found I had more ideas than I could do right away. So
I set priorities and some are still waiting their turn.
<grin>
I quickly renamed those shower pages and may use the
idea some day in another way! The sting of the failure
has faded and I'm using it as a stepping stool to get
up that ladder called success.
You too may fail at things you try, but don't dump it
all down the drain and soak in self-pity. Take time to
look at your failure objectively, study it for the root
mistakes, and "ask, seek, and knock," until you find
how to correct them. I think it is safe to guarantee
that better and bigger success will rise out of the
ashes of your failure. One day you will publicly
acknowledge that failure as a positive turning point
in your life. Others will admire you for how you turned
it into your keystone to success.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
Article Ruth Marlene Friesen makes friends wherever she goes
just like her heroine, Ruthe, in Ruthe's Secret Roses,
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/RSR.html Her friends
become her rare roses!
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com
Subscribe to RoseBouquet, her biweekly ezine for more.
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/RoseBouquet/index.html
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A-fail@ruthes-secretroses.com