Dear reader, happy New Year! As we step into this year, It is my hope that you will receive inspiration from this article that will enable you to turn your failure to fortune.
Failure is not final but a steppingstone to success. Failure can be turned into fortune when you realize that failure is not an end but an opportunity for a great comeback.
Years ago, I read the story of the man, Paul Galvin, who had a setback in his business and his company was wound up and auctioned. On the day his company was to be auctioned, Galvin came around. He used the last $750 dollar he had with him to buy back a department of his auctioned company.
With great determination and a fighting spirit, Galvin grew the department into what is now known as Motorola Corporation, one of the largest and most successful companies in the world. Galvin thus demonstrated that failure can be turned to fortune if you make up your mind to do so.
Dear reader, if you are down today and you think it is all over, I want you to understand that it is not yet over. Right where you are, you can turn that failure to fortune. Below are six salient points you should master if you must turn your failure to fortune.
1. Failure is Not Final
The problem is not that you failed. Any person can encounter failure at any time. There is no person that is highly successful today that has not encountered setbacks. But what is important is your ATTITUDE and what you DO with those setbacks.
If you must turn your failure to fortune, you need to understand that failure is not final. The fact that you are down today does not mean you are out. Galvin went down to the bottom. The company he labored to build was wound up and auctioned, but Galvin did not lose hope in life.
The way some people react to failure is terrible. Some people take failure as a crime and inflict punishment on themselves. They regret ever making the attempt. Some people would not do anything because of failure.
Dear reader, how do you react to failure? Do you react negatively or positively? If you react negatively, you are not likely going to summon up the courage to turn your failure to fortune. You need to realize that failure is not final but an opportunity for a great comeback. WHEN YOU ARE DOWN, DON’T THINK YOU ARE OUT. START THINKING AND STRATEGISING FOR A GREAT COMEBACK.
2. Failure Is Not An Excuse
When some people fail, the common thing they normally do is that they use the failure as an excuse for not trying again. Dare Dean said, “I realize that there are two kinds of people in the world – those who look for a way and those who look for excuse.”
If you must turn your failure to fortune, you need to realize that failure is not an excuse. No matter the devastation the failure has caused you, you must not allow it to frighten you from trying again. Failure should be an opportunity for you to look for a way rather than for an excuse.
Philip Adams once told his team of engineers, “Unless you are willing to fail miserably and have another go, success won’t happen.” Instead of using failure as an excuse, start looking for a way out of that failure. Remember the Sorneo proverb: “Where the heart is unwilling, it will find a thousand excuses; where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways.”
Never use failure as an excuse for not trying again. Paul Galvin came out of bankruptcy stronger and victorious because he never used his business failure as an excuse for not trying again. Get up and try again. The failure of yesterday has come and gone. Get up again and have a shot at success.
3. Be Optimistic
When you expect the best, you will get the best; but when you expect the worst, you will get the worst. Nothing causes frustration and discouragement as failure or setback, but if you desire to turn your failure to fortune, you must get up from the ground and step upon frustration and discouragement so that you can see clearly the greater opportunities that you can capitalize upon.
Galvin was optimistic. He knew that failure is never final. He knew that using failure as an excuse would not make him to try again. Consequently, he was optimistic that if he tried again, he could bounce back and achieve greater success.
To turn your failure to success, you must be optimistic. You must believe that despite the setback you have encountered, you will succeed when you get up and try again. One thing optimism does for you is that it activates and gingers you to see opportunities or to look for ways of stepping out of failure and into fortune. Optimism enabled Galvin to take positive steps out of failure and into fortune. When you start expecting the best, soon, you will start walking out of failure and into fortune.
Have a Fighting Spirit
Only those that have a fighting spirit can get up and fight again after being beaten. You are not a failure because you failed; you are not a loser because you lost; you become one when you refuse to get up and fight again.
Galvin failed in his business. He went down. But he did not remain on the ground. With his fighting spirit, he got up and fought his way through to victory. When you have a fighting spirit, you will be able to deal with frustration and discouragement. The duo are the negative forces that hold people down in defeat. The way to overcome them is to force yourself to get up and try again even when you don’t feel like doing so.
5. Pick Up a Fragment
When you are down but not out, you can still do something. You may not be able to gather the whole fragments, but you can at least pick up a fragment. The fact about life is that you are not immune against failure. But life gives you the opportunity to pick up at least a fragment of your chattered business, life, venture or relationship. And this fragment is more than enough for you to launch a great comeback.
For Galvin, life granted him the opportunity of salvaging only a fragment of his auctioned company. Though a fragment, that was ALL he needed to achieve incredible success. LITTLE MEANS MUCH WHEN YOU ARE WILLING TO TURN YOUR FAILURE TO FORTUNE.
Dear reader, what do you do when you are down. Do you remain on the ground whining and complaining? Do you contemplate quitting?
But why should you keep whining, complaining and contemplating quitting when all you need to rise to greater height is with you right in the midst of the failure? ALL YOU NEED IS A FRAGMENT. YOU DON’T NEED MORE THAN THAT. Start looking for the fragment now. The fragment can be anything, just anything you can capitalize upon to launch you back to limelight.
6. Invest All You Can
To turn your failure into fortune, you must invest ALL THAT YOU CAN. God is not asking you to do the impossible before He can bless you. God does not expect you to amass millions before He can prosper you. IF YOU WANT GOD TO HELP YOU TURN YOUR FAILURE TO FORTUNE, WHAT YOU NEED TO START WITH IS WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO INVEST.
It could be money, your talent, possession, potentialities or any resources that can be put to use. The important thing is: you must not allow failure or setbacks to frighten you from investing all you can afford. It is true that when a person suffers setbacks or fails, he is likely going to be afraid of taking further risk. It is this fear of taking further risks that makes people to remain as underachievers. Galvin did not allow setback to frustrate him from taking another risk. If he had got frustrated, you would not have heard the name, Motorola Corporation. Motorola is a product of failure turned into fortune.
Like Galvin, don’t allow setback or failure to stop you from investing. Every failure you encounter gives you a better opportunity for greater success. If Galvin’s initial company had not undergone the process of dissolution, Galvin would not have discovered the bigger opportunity of launching Motorola Corporation.
WHENEVER YOU ENCOUNTER FAILURE OR SETBACK, REALIZE THAT IN THE MIDST OF THIS FAILURE OR SETBACK LIES THE BIGGER OPPORTUNITY THAT YOU CAN CAPITALIZE UPON TO WALK INTO FORTUNE.
All you need do to take advantage of this bigger opportunity is to invest all that you have. Invest your energy, money, time, etc on the bigger opportunity that the failure or setback provides. Look diligently for the bigger opportunity right in the midst of your failure. It is there. You will find it. And when you do, invest ALL you can with all your might on that bigger opportunity.
Dear reader, you can turn your failure to fortune. Don’t look at the mud; look at the stars. Don’t look behind; look ahead. The fact that you made it successfully into this New Year, 2013, is an indication that God has given you another opportunity to put everything right.
This year is a year of new beginning! All the failures and setbacks of last year have gone forever. Now, you have the opportunity of beginning anew. You can make all things new. You can turn your failures to fortune.
Sure, it is not going to be easy. It has never been easy nor will it be easy anytime in the future. But it is not impossible. The life of victory in not a rosy one, but like Galvin, when you follow the success principles expounded in this article, you will surely emerge victorious at the end of the day!
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