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.
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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. 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!
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
Reproduced
with permission from the Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine.
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