The Formula for Failure and Success by Jim Rohn
Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We
do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of
poor thinking and poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more
than a few errors in judgment repeated every day. Now why would someone make an
error in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat it every day? The answer
is because he or she does not think that it matters. On their own, our daily
acts do not seem that important.
A minor oversight, a poor decision, or a
wasted hour generally doesn't result in an instant and measurable impact. More
often than not, we escape from any immediate consequences of our deeds. If we
have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days, this lack of
discipline does not seem to have any immediate impact on our lives. And since
nothing drastic happened to us after the first ninety days, we repeat this
error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it goes. Why? Because
it doesn't seem to matter. And herein lies the great danger. Far worse than not
reading the books is not even realizing that it matters! Those who eat too many
of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy of
the moment overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem to
matter. Those who smoke too much or drink too much go on making these poor
choices year after year after year... because it doesn't seem to matter. But
the pain and regret of these errors in judgment have only been delayed for a
future time. Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate until
the inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the price must be paid for
our poor choices - choices that didn't seem to matter. Failure's most dangerous
attribute is its subtlety. In the short term those little errors don't seem to
make any difference. We do not seem to be failing. In fact, sometimes these
accumulated errors in judgment occur throughout a period of great joy and
prosperity in our lives. Since nothing terrible happens to us, since there are
no instant consequences to capture our attention, we simply drift from one day
to the next, repeating the errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to
the wrong voices and making the wrong choices. The sky did not fall in on us
yesterday;
Therefore, the act was probably harmless.
Since it seemed to have no measurable consequence, it is probably safe to
repeat. But we must become better educated than that! If at the end of the day
when we made our first error in judgment the sky had fallen in on us, we
undoubtedly would have taken immediate steps to ensure that the act would never
be repeated again. Like the child who places his hand on a hot burner despite
his parents' warnings, we would have had an instantaneous experience
accompanying our error in judgment. Unfortunately, failure does not shout out
its warnings as our parents once did. This is why it is imperative to refine
our philosophy in order to be able to make better choices. With a powerful,
personal philosophy guiding our every step, we become more aware of our errors
in judgment and more aware that each error really does matter. Now here is the
great news. Just like the formula for failure, the formula for success is easy
to follow: It's a few simple disciplines practiced every day. Now here is an
interesting question worth pondering: How can we change the errors in the
formula for failure into the disciplines required in the formula for success?
The answer is by making the future an important part of our current philosophy.
Both success and failure involve future consequences, namely the inevitable
rewards or unavoidable regrets resulting from past activities. If this is true,
why don't more people take time to ponder the future? The answer is simple:
They are so caught up in the current moment that it doesn't seem to matter. The
problems and the rewards of today are so absorbing to some human beings that
they never pause long enough to think about tomorrow. But what if we did
develop a new discipline to take just a few minutes every day to look a little
further down the road? We would then be able to foresee the impending
consequences of our current conduct. Armed with that valuable information, we
would be able to take the necessary action to change our errors into new
success-oriented disciplines. In other words, by disciplining ourselves to see
the future in advance, we would be able to change our thinking, amend our
errors and develop new habits to replace the old. One of the exciting things
about the formula for success - a few simple disciplines practiced every day -
is that the results are almost immediate. As we voluntarily change daily errors
into daily disciplines, we experience positive results in a very short period
of time. When we change our diet, our health improves noticeably in just a few
weeks. When we start exercising, we feel a new vitality almost immediately.
When we begin reading, we experience a growing awareness and a new level of
self-confidence. Whatever new discipline we begin to practice daily will
produce exciting results that will drive us to become even better at developing
new disciplines. The real magic of new disciplines is that they will cause us
to amend our thinking. If we were to start today to read the books, keep a
journal, attend the classes, listen more and observe more, then today would be
the first day of a new life leading to a better future. If we were to start
today to try harder, and in every way make a conscious and consistent effort to
change subtle and deadly errors into constructive and rewarding disciplines, we
would never again settle for a life of existence - not once we have tasted the
fruits of a life of substance!
To Your Success, Jim Rohn
