Human beings are an odd lot.
Humans pass memes to one another. Most humans trust these memes solely because:
- some people experiencing worldly success preach the memes
- most people struggling to succeed swear by the meme
But just because a bunch of people and a few successes say something is true does not make the saying true.
One particular meme all but guarantees your failure.
Here it is:
“Failing repeatedly is the way to learn how to succeed.'
Observe variations.
Fall 7 times. Stand up on the 8th.
Fail your way to success.
Quote goats know the drill by now.
But using your mind to think through this meme reveals one big flaw. Failing wastes your time. Learning how to succeed by studying success saves your time. Study how to succeed. Succeed. Do not wing it. Never fail solely because you believe failing repeatedly is the way to succeed. Never subscribe to such madness.
I failed terribly blogging-wise for years of my life because I did not learn how to succeed from successful bloggers. The moment I learned how to succeed from pros and put their advice into action I began succeeding. I do genuinely believe all unfolds perfectly for our spiritual journey but ego-me knows I'd have saved 5-6 years of failure, heartache and struggle if I let go the idea that I needed to fail my way to succeed.
Failing repeatedly proves that you know how to fail. Failing repeatedly also reveals that you do not know how to succeed. Does it make sense to believe that you will become successful by failing again and again. If you prove again and again that:
- that you do not know how to succeed
- that you know how to fail
how can you succeed or learn how to succeed by choosing to display that you know how to fail and that you do not know how to succeed?
Making matters worse, some less aware people who experience some worldly success drill the idea of *failing terribly for a long time to succeed* into the minds of their followers. This is like saying you will become incredibly healthy mentally and physically after choosing to smoke a pack of cigs and drinking a 6 pack of beer daily for a long time. Abuse your body and mind for years to develop a healthy, sound and strong body and mind, right?
Yet, making matters even worse, people who fail left and right for 5, 10 or 20 years excitedly believe that 5, 10 or 20 years of failure brings these lost souls closer to success. Really?
I read A Course in Miracles daily, study the notes and apply the principles every single day of my life. One prominent teacher who has applied the book's principles for 30 plus years – and is the closest thing to an enlightened soul living a worldly life – shares how many ACIM students claim to have studied the book for decades but are still having a bad day every single day for 25 years.
Really?
Obviously, these folks deeply believe they need to struggle, fail, strain and strive their way to happiness, peace, and/or worldly success. Plus, this lot rarely if ever actually applies the teachings to their worldly life.
Do yourself a favor. Find happy, peaceful people who live successfully. Study their mindset. Listen to their advice. Study success. Be happy, peaceful and successful by following their teachings versus trying to fail your way to success.
Doing what works makes sense compared to doing what doesn't work and expecting it to work.