Mindset Matters
- Steven Spielberg dropped out of high school in his sophomore year. He was persuaded to come back and placed in a class for the learning disabled. He lasted a month and dropped out of school forever.
- When Thomas Edison was a boy his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything.
- Albert Einstein was four years old before he could speak.
- A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had “no good ideas.”
- Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade.
Each of these leaders had setbacks, failures, and plenty of reasons to stop. Today, do we consider any of them failures? No. Each made an impact on their organizations, their communities and then the world. Failure can be an incredible launching pad if you approach it from the right mindset. If you believe that everything that happens to you is in your best interest then find the opportunity to learn, grow and allow it to make you better.
A guy named Henry had multiple missteps and failures as a leader. He had a full-time job, but people scoffed at him when he started a side hustle at night. It took time and persistence, but the Ford Motor Company was created from his efforts and many failures. Steve Jobs didn’t finish school, he teamed up with others and built an amazing company with some cool products at Apple.
Success at any job in any role is a choice. Don’t let failures, shortcomings and setbacks justify a lack of progress. Choose courage for it will take courage to get up and act. Action is the cure for over thinking a matter. Choose to be curious, to find another way that will take you to the next level. Choose to be persistent, make it a habit to be accountable and to move forward. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and if you think it’s perfect you spent too much time on it.
What’s your mindset on the challenges that seem to get in the way of your goals and dreams? Have you started something only to be frustrated and then allowed yourself to stop? Mindset matters. When I failed my first college course, it didn’t stop me. When I failed my second one, I changed my direction, found a curriculum I actually liked, then finished with a degree in Horticulture. When I didn’t charge my first customers enough for my work, I lost money and learned to be honest with myself. I learned to charge a fair price for my good work. Those failures taught me to adapt my strategy, change my actions and keep moving forward.
“Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.”
~Henry Ford
Keep cultivating a winning mindset!
