So you think you’re a failure, huh? Let me get one thing off my virtual chest right now: you’re not. I realize you may be experiencing failure. You may have had a string of failures. You may have been told you are a failure. But it doesn’t mean that’s who you are. You are not a failure unless that’s who you decide to be.
But before I prove you’re not a failure, I want to share a personal story. Oh, and by the way, when I said “my virtual chest,” I didn’t say that because you are reading my article. I say it because my muscle definition is equivalent to Tweety Bird’s. If that little yellow feathered turd and I got into a fight, he would own me.
I Am A Failure
My little story. In years past, I was an entrepreneur in the traditional sense, starting businesses and growing them. Today I am an author, which, not so interestingly, is just like any other form of business. You need to sell what you do and do what you do, really well. The only difference is, instead of having 30 employees reporting to you, you have one part-time assistant… who is either in India or is a family member or both.
I have failed a lot. I have lost all my money. I have crashed more start-ups than I have grown. I have offended probably everyone (including myself a couple times). And now I am failing at my fastest rate ever. Why?
If you asked anyone on the street – I mean anyone, including my mother – how “prolific” I am, they would say, “Who’s this idiot you’re talking about?” (Note: My mom wouldn’t call me an idiot, she would call me a jerk.) But here’s the deal: failure is the ONLY way to success. Every day I take a shot at achieving my vision, and fail. And regardless of what your vision is, the only way you will get there is by failing your way to it.
Find Purpose
If you want to stop being buried by failure, you need to define your life’s purpose. And if you don’t know what your life’s purpose is… your life’s purpose (at least for now) is to find your life’s purpose. Constantly ask yourself, why am I here? What do I need to do? And be willing to listen to the answers that you present yourself.
When you find your purpose, you’ll get into the groove – where your hidden talents reveal themselves and you lose all sense of time. You’re living your purpose when you build energy as you do it. You’re living your purpose when you experience failure and you see it as another step up the ladder.
My Virtual Chest
In regards to my virtual chest situation, I am done with that bad failure, and am now a weight-room loyalist. Interestingly, I am now experiencing good failure constantly.
MIKE MICHALOWICZ (pronounced mi-KAL- o-wits) started his first business at the age of 24, moving his young family to the only safe place he could afford—a retirement building. With no experience, no contacts and no savings, he systematically bootstrapped a multimillion-dollar business. Then he did it again. And again. Now he is doing it for other entrepreneurs. Mike is the CEO of Provendus Group, a consulting firm that ignites explosive growth in companies that have plateaued; a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal; MSNBC’s business makeover expert; a keynote speaker on entrepreneurship; and the author of the cult classic book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. His newest book, The Pumpkin Plan, has already been called “the next E-Myth!” For more information, visit www.mikemichalowicz.com/.
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