Failure IS Success!

Failure is Success.  And sometimes success is failure.  Let me explain what I mean.
Often in life you will experience what many consider to be failure.  You don't accomplish what you set out to accomplish.  You start a business and it doesn't take off the way you hoped it would.  You start a new job and realize that you have no idea what you are doing.  You take a class and fail miserably.  The list can go on and on, but to avoid sending you into a spiral of doom remembering all of your failed attempts in life, I will purposely leave my list short.
For me, as long as I grow, learn, and change for the better, failure is success.  I succeed in finding a better way to do something, I succeed in avoiding stupid mistakes in the future, I succeed in knowing how not to do something the next time.  The only time a failure is a failure is when I give up and give in.  I am not a failure, and neither are you, we simply gained invaluable life experience and knowledge, and will use that to forever better our lives.
And looked at from that perspective, without the emotion and drama, Failure really does become Success.
What is Success?
According to Wikipedia:

Success may refer to:

• a level of social status
• achievement of an objective (goal)
• the opposite of failure   

Instead of the opposite of failure, I declare it to be a positive result of failure.  I maintain as an ongoing goal that I will learn from my mistakes.  Pause what I am doing, review the outcome of my decisions, determine what worked and what didn't, and course correct for the next round.  And so, even in 'failure', I succeed.

Let me give you a couple of 'Clayisms' regarding success and failure:

1.  Success and Failure are Choices we make. (I will write more on this in a future post)

2.  Both success and Failure should be motivation to succeed (or continue to succeed).

What!?!  When I fail to accomplish a goal, I get competitive with myself!  I have a very competitive nature when it comes to many things, and I don't like to lose.  In fact, I don't know many people who do like to lose.  One of my daughters cannot go on with life when she gets beat on a video game by her siblings, while another tries harder and channels that loss to fuel her competitive nature so she can win the next game.  When channeled properly, I believe that being competitive is a great attitude to have.   I used to love playing basketball.  I used to love to go up against the best players in the league!  And when they would out maneuver me, I would use that as fuel to push harder, try harder, and in all cases, win!  I actually believe that they were likely better players than I was, but my competitive determination to win ruled the day!  The same concept applies, or can be applied, to any and every situation.  Don't let so called 'failure' stop you in your tracks.  Throw that failure into the competitive furnace, and let it fuel your success!  

What would have happened to the Israelites if Moses had given up after any one of the 'failed' attempts to convince Pharaoh to let them go?  God sent us here to learn, and 'failures' are a great learning experience and an even better springboard to much greater future success!

Focus on the target!

There is an amazing 'phenomenon' that is both predictable and reliable.  When you focus on something, and it can be absolutely anything, you suddenly get more of it!  You can focus on a character trait that you want to gain or strengthen in your life and you begin to find opportunities to practice that trait.  The world seems to provide instruction from every unlikely source to inspire you and carry you toward your desired target.  Friends and strangers suddenly have such inspiring advice, tips and encouragement to offer just at the right time.  And if you focus long enough with unwavering determination, you HIT the target!
Now, there are two sides to every coin, and that which is true in the positive sense of focus, is also true of the negative focus.  Focus on the problems you have, your shortcomings, weaknesses, inabilities and so forth, and they too get stronger.  You will be 'encouraged' negatively to continue strengthening those very traits that you so detest and abhor!  And just why is that?  What you focus on is what you get.  The target you aim at, is the only target that you can hit.

'Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.' 
Thomas Jefferson

Several weeks now into my motivated and inspired journey, I got a call last night from a church leader asking if I could teach a lesson today to the men's group.  He apologized for the late notice, and I gladly accepted the opportunity!  (I am focusing on helping both myself and others learn. grow, be inspired and motivated and here is an opportunity beating down my door!).  We have a great group here at church, and I was super excited to inspire them to learn and inspire them to action!  And the subject of the lesson was: 'We are all enlisted' referring to the Army of God and our commitment to carry the work and word of Christianity forward.  What a great and exciting chance to motivate, and what a worthy cause!  

I shared with the group my own love of the gospel, and how much I am blessed continually by taking part in it.  I shared my vibrant enthusiasm for the work, and you should have seen the excitement spread!  Now, let me point out: this is not a high energy loud evangelical church (and I am NOT putting down such churches).  We have a very calm and loving spirit in our church with very inspiring discussions and well prepared and completely uniform doctrines being taught.  I believe, as many Christians do, that God is organized and wants us to be the same.  That there should be order, uniformity, and consistency in His church.  And so in this setting, we got excited!  Faces lit up, experiences and testimonies were shared, and we all became edified and inspired in our callings to serve!  And after church I overheard several of the men passing that same enthusiasm on to others! 

Focus on those things that are good, praiseworthy, and positive, and THAT is what you become, THAT is what comes to you!  And do your best to avoid strengthening those things that you would rather not be associated with.    So, what is it that you want more of?