You Can Learn More From Failure Than From Success

What is success?  If you try and define it, you might find that it's tougher to pin down that you first thought.  Is it making money?  Is it feeling fulfilled?  Is it making a difference in the lives of others?  Is it leaving a legacy?  Is it following a direction you believe is God-given?  The answer is that it's some kind of mixture of all these and much more.  But my point today is not to define success, but rather to ask an even better question. Why are we all chasing it so furiously?

It seems built into us that we want to chase success and run from failure.  But why?  What do we think waits for us with success? What do we fear so greatly if we fail?  These aren't just rhetorical questions.  Rather, I want you to ask yourself these questions and work to answer them.  Their answers will have deep implications for how you'll view both success and failure in your future.

Probably much like you, I've experienced both success and failure in my life.  I've been at points where I was well thought of, I've been at points where I was embarrassed to show my face.  I've been in seasons where I had savings in the bank and seasons where I cried alone in my car because I had no idea how I would provide for my family for the next week. I've been proud of the work I've done.  I've been embarrassed to be seen doing the work I had to do.  And through all theses seasons - and I'm sure there are more of both coming for me - I've learned many valuable lessons.  Let me share just one with you today.

You can learn more from failure than from success.  

Success teaches you:

• This is easy.
• The time to take risks is over.
• Engage cruise control.  I've reached the top.  The journey is over.

Failure teaches you:

• This is more difficult than I had planned for.
• Next time I take a risk, perhaps it should be more calculated or executed more carefully.
• I'm never going to arrive, but I can learn to enjoy the journey.

Although there are many keys to capitalizing on your failures, there is one that seems to stand out.  It's guarding your heart against bitterness.  I would go so far as to say if you allow yourself to get bitter about your failure, you truly have been beaten.  This is because bitterness says, 'It's their fault, not my responsibility.'  On the other hand, if you can choose optimism, even through defeat, you are primed to learn much more than you could ever learn through success.

So, am I saying success is a bad thing?  Absolutely not.  It's wonderful to aspire toward success - whatever that may mean to you.  I'm simply saying that failure is not fatal, and even more than that, some of your greatest opportunities for learning will come through your failure.  Fear failure less.  It could prove itself a valuable ally. 

*I am currently working on a book chronicling a particular season of my life that involved some success but many more failures.  In that season, God taught me numerous lessons about myself and about life.  My hope is that those lessons will be transferrable and inspiring to you.  My goal is to have this book ready for you to read in the first quarter of 2017.*

You already know all this . . . but you'd be a fool not to look again.

The Compound Effect is a great little book written by Darren Hardy.  It's an easy, quick read.  I read it in a week and that's just about a record for me.  So, you fast readers (or people without kids - haha) could probably read it in a day or two.

I'm a little torn on this one.  Not because I don't think it's good.  It's fantastic.  By far, the best book I've read in years.  My hesitation is not because the book lacks good content, but because the content is so incredibly simple.  Just yesterday, I texted 5 friends, who are great leaders, and recommended they read it.  Part of me felt like I was doing them a huge favor, another part felt somewhat embarrassed.  It's like I almost think they will read it and then call me up and say, "Well, I already knew all that."  But as the book's introduction states, "New or more information is not what you need - a new plan of action is.  It's time to create new behaviors and habits that are oriented away from sabatoge and toward success. It's that simple."

So, I'm holding onto this little book that's absolutely life-changing.  And believe me, I realize how overused that phrase is and I use it sparingly.  But this is a true example of life-changing . . . if you decide to engage your mind and actions. 

Here's the simple truth.  You are the sum total of every single decision you make.  I'm talking hundreds a day - most of them unconscious.  But that's one of the big problems.  You're living your life on auto-pilot when you should have your hands on the stick.  Each daily decision seems small - too small to matter, but each one does matter.  We can easily fool ourselves into believing "just one donut won't kill me" or "I can miss one workout and be fine" or "I can skip having that one more tough conversation at work that I really need to have."  They're all true statements.  That is, they are true if the "one" part is true.  But it's not.  If you make these statements and believe them daily, the truth becomes a lie and you are being sabatoged by the compound effect.  You see, the compound effect is like a law of nature.  It's always in effect. You can't choose to turn it on or turn it off.  You can only choose to leverage it for success or failure.  Tony Robbins said it like this, "Your decisions shape your destiny.  You future is what you make of it.  Little, everyday decisions will either take you to the life you desire or to disaster by default."

It all boils down to success.  Not just financial or business success, but success in whatever is important to you.  I actually hate that the subtitle of the book says, "jumpstart your income" because it makes it look like it's one of those "do this and get rich overnight" books, which I despise. Truthfully, it's more like a "do this and get rich over a lifetime" book. And when I say "rich", I mean in every sense of the word, not just financially.  Besides the simple principle-based writing in this book, Hardy gives tons of practical advice on how to translate the ideas into action.  It's also packed with worksheets you can complete to get yourself on track with many things you've probably been on auto-pilot with.

The bottom line is that I belive this is not only a great read, but a very important one, for anyone who is looking to do more than just exist and be taken here and there by life.  I hope you'll take that step.  If you do read this, please come back here and share your take aways with me.  I would love to hear your success stories!  Enjoy.

Are You Willing to Re-learn What You Thought You Already Knew?

If you are one who cherishes learning (and you should be - if you're reading this, you probably are), it's really amazing how much there is to learn; especially if you consider how much you might need to re-learn.  I was just taking a walk with my wife, Sara, last night and we were talking about just that. I'm 43 years old and I feel like I'm spending the better part of my adult life re-learning what I thought I already knew.  I don't resent it.  Not one bit.  To the contrary, I feel grateful for all that I'm learning these days.

In my conversation with Sara last night, we were talking specifically about food and nutrition.  My re-learning journey in this area began January 4, 2015, when I took a huge step and joined the Fit Pastors Academy.  Since that time, I've dropped about 25lbs and many inches in various places and I've also gained enough knowledge and replaced enough bad habits with good to keep that extra weight off.  

That was the beginning of the journey, but it continues today.  Last week, I finished a fascinating book, recommended by my friend and fitness coach, Ricky Van Pay.   The book is called In Defense Of Food and is authored by Michael Pollan.  I loved this book. It's been my favorite of the year, so far.

To talk about this book, I'll start with a question.  Are there assumptions in your life, maybe ones you learned from your parents and even grandparents, that just seem wrong to you?  I mean deep in your core.  I heard it put, once, very eloquently that there are certain issues that 'insult our souls'.  That is to mean that even though they are generally thought to be a fact, something deep inside of us just knows that "fact" is erroneous.

Since I've been on my own personal health journey, there have been nutritional "facts" that have insulted my soul.  As I've scarfed down protein bars, multivitamins, and extra meat to reach my nutritional targets for the day and supplement my vitamin deficiencies, I've continually found myself wondering what people have done for thousands of years without all this scientifically engineered and synthesized "nutrition".  I mean, could it be an error to think we can't get all we need from simple, God-given, whole foods?  Maybe.  As is the case with any learning journey, that's something you and I need to decide for ourselves.

I wouldn't so much call In Defense of Food a "how-to" book, but more a "why-to".  I am always a fan of the why behind the what.  Maybe that's what I love so much about this book.  Or maybe it's that it sheds some light on those issues that have insulted my soul for some time.  Here is the brief synopsis:

"Because of the so-called Western Diet, food has been replaced by nutrients and common sense by confusion - most of what we are consuming today is no longer the product of nature, but of food science.  The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become."

If you read this book, which I highly recommend you do, you'll read through some fascinating history of nutrition science and you'll see how the science of nutrition has been hijacked by the marketing machines of food companies.  It's sad, but not surprising, that much of what we believe to be fact is not fact at all, but just a story packaged up by food producers and our own government to meet the needs of the industry.  I know, this sounds super weird and conspiracy-theory-esque. But, if you can trust me that it's not as weird as it sounds and just read the book, I think you'll see what I mean.  

So, what does this new learning mean for me?  Well, not huge, wholesale changes.  My wife has already known for years a lot of what I'm just learning now, so our food supply in the Fitch household is fairly clean and real.  However, there are changes I'm continually making.  Especially now that I know some additional 'whys behind the whats'. But, the better question to ask is what will this new learning mean for you?

I'd really encourage you to check this book out and see what you can learn.  I would especially recommend this if you're overweight, struggling with illness or you're medication-dependent.  I'm not trying at all to make a judgment on your situation, but I do believe the foods you eat are the single biggest determining factor to your personal health.  So, I dare you to re-learn what you thought you already knew.  Will you take the dare?