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.
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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!
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