I did that and it didn’t work.

How many times have I heard that? Whether it was about business or life or investing or anything else I have ever spoken with someone about. And while my belief in our own responsibility for our successes and our failures has never wavered, this brings an interesting dynamic to life, our choices and ultimately our likelihood for attaining or achieving anything we can imagine or desire.

We have to accept the FACT that some things won’t work. And there are a variety of reasons, and ALL of them come back to the person who didn’t have success. Want to know a few of my “favorite reasons to fail”???

1. Didn’t do what they said to do.
   1. Did nothing.
   2. Did only some.
   3. Did it “my” way.
   4. Went through the motions, but really didn’t do it.
2. Didn’t understand the process required.
   1. They didn’t have a clear list of steps.
   2. Didn’t follow instructions.
   3. Didn’t follow the order of the instructions.
3. Picked something that had only a 1% or less success rate.

Ok … there are so many more I could list, but you get the idea.

You let your past performance dictate your future outcome.

We do that in so many different areas of our life that it becomes the default instead of the rare exception. When something we think we tried fails, we stop trying other things. Many years ago I read a few life-changing books that, among other things I’ve read, pointed out that the successful people in life are ones who “did the things that others failed to do” and I’ve added a few interpretations to that.

1. Simply don’t take the action required.
2. Miss out on the thinking, planning, visualization and day-dreaming about “how it is” (more about that coming)
3. STOP AFTER THE FIRST FAILURE.

The Necessity of Day-Dreaming and Visualization

Without going down that rabbit hole of explanation, you and I and everyone must have dreams and visions of things we want and these MUST be in the “as if I already had it or did it” mode and not “maybe some day” mode. When I wanted a new car a few years ago my visualization had the car in my garage, driveway, me in it, going places that I go … not how it looked at the dealership … how it looked NOW in my life.

Stumbling and not getting up again

So read the words on that photo above and realize that success is merely a brief interlude in the sequence of failed attempts. NEVER QUIT is the rule to follow. Success goes to the persistent and diligent and not the ones who stop.