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Finally! Learn Why Some People
Succeed While Others Fail (Even Harvard
Grads)
One
recent study on achievement tracked Harvard graduates. Those who
didn't use a formal goal-setting program were no better off t han
anyone else in America.
Imagine that -- having a Harvard degree and getting nowhere
with it!
Here's an easy way for you to gain a huge advantage over
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Yet Another Reason to Avoid
TV
For years, ET R has been trying to convince you to
drastically limit the hours you spend watching TV. Not only does
it waste time and lull your brain into a false sleep ... it i s
also slowly but surely eating away at your bank account.
The 2005 J.D. Power & Associates Residential
Cable/Satellite TV Customer Satisfaction Survey reports that
satellite subscribers pay an average of $57.72 a month and cable
subscribers shell out an average of $58.51. That's about $700 a
year squandered on mind-numbing, nattering drivel.
If you were to invest that money and get a 15% return,
you'd have close to $7,000 in five years. Keep stowing that $700
away, and in 25 years you'd have close to $200,000! With that kind
of money, you could buy a Ferrari F430 Spider, pay off your
child's med school loans, or enjoy a much more comfortable
retirement.
- Suzanne Richardson
"Success is going
from failure to failure without a loss of
enthusiasm."
Winston Churchill
Failures and Successes: Which
Do You Remember? Which Ones Matter
Most?
By Michael
Masterson
When Bluebird K7 crashed in a lake in Coniston, England in
1967, it was the fastest speedboat in the world. Its pilot, Donald
Campbell, radioed as the boat suddenly lurched up and tumbled
over: "I can't see anything - I'm having to draw back. I've got
the bows up. I'm gone."
For 34 years, the remains of Bluebird K7 and Mr. Campbell
remained 150 feet below the surface of Coniston Water in the
English Lake District. But when they brought the boat up in 2 001,
it ignited a debate about whether it should be shown restored , as
one group wanted (and was willing to pay $1.75 million to do) , or
in its wrecked form.
Alan Cowell, writing in The New York Times, points
out that this debate ("Should [the boat] stand as an emblem of Mr.
Campbell's successes before the crash or of his final disaster?")
- reflects a deeper schism (see Word to the Wise, below) in t he
British intellectual personality: Do the British prefer to
remember their successes or their failures?
Vicky Stowe, curator of the Ruskin Museum in Coniston,
makes the case for failure: "You could argue that Scott of the
Antarctic is more remembered than people who survived after
reaching the South Pole, and a lot of people round here remember
Mallory and Irving, whether they reached the summit of Everest or
not."
The British are not alone in their fascination with
failure. American history is well stocked with its own stories
(Custer's last stand and the Bay of Pigs invasion, to name two).
Which begs the question: Why is it that some failures are
memorable while some successes are not?
If you consider the Scotts and Campbells and Custers, it
seems that there are four elements that are often involved in a
memorable event, successful or not:
-
It is historically important (i.e. first).
-
It has the potential to change some thing
significant.
-
It has the power to inspire
attention.
This is hardly definitive, but it's enough to make you
wonder if you couldn't put your own indelible stamp on world
history with some event that was (a) first of its kind, (b)
culturally, politically, or socially significant, and (c) awe
inspiring.
So far, I haven't done anything like that. Nor do I have
any such plans.
Writing books, building businesses, establishing a his tory
of giving - these are all things that give me pleasure and (I
hope) make a positive difference to a significant number of
people. But will these personal successes be remembered in 10 0
years? Unlikely.
When I consider the most memorable events of my life, these
come to mind:
- Getting caught, at age 5, for breaking a car
window
- Being mentally abused, at age 9, by a sort of
nanny
- Being publicly humiliated by Mrs. Grow, my high
school homeroom teacher
Gee, that's embarrassing. Most of the memorable events of
my life are negative.
If I give myself a different task - to identify my mos t
memorable successes - a completely different list comes to mi nd:
- writing my first poem
- playing my first French horn solo
- being president of my high school
fraternity
- graduating college with a 3.83 aver age
- teaching my first college course
- writing my first book
- making my first million
And what about my failures? Which of them enjoy prominent
perches in my memory?
- my poor academic performance in high
school
- numerous childhood truancies and
misbehaviors
- being fired by Scotty for being "a hump" of a
waiter (I still don't know what that means. I was afraid to
ask.)
- losing $40,000 on my first real estate
investment
- losing $1 million on a magazine that
flopped
- dozens of other business deals that didn't work
out
Yes, I've had plenty of failures. But I don't spend much
time thinking about them ... and when I do, it is with a feeling
of equanimity or amusement. I don't feel badly about them . They
seem like interesting experiences that happened to the person I
was years ago. And it seems to me that's a good thing. Being
ashamed of failure must surely be very destructive.
I am ashamed about some of the mean, selfish, improper , or
unethical things I've done to be successful. I'm ashamed for
scolding people who were too weak to defend themselves properly.
I'm ashamed for failing to recognize the contributions of others.
I'm embarrassed by the way I crow about my accomplishment s. And I
cringe every time I think about some of the foolish things I've said (and done) at office parties.
I'm proud of my successes, but I'm not ashamed of my
failures - for one good reason: I consider myself to be a success.
Why? Because, despite my many failures, I have to my credit many
more successes. How was I able to rack up such a positive
success/failure track record? By pushing forward on the next new
project after the last one had failed.
Every
successful person has failed. And not just once. The secret t o
making something good out of your mistakes is to (a) refuse t o
feel guilty about them, and (b) resolve to learn from
them.
In " Failing
Forward," John C. Maxwell says that if you want to accomplish great things
in your life, you have to be willing to fail. And I know exactly
what he means. "Failing forward" is Maxwell's metaphor for how it
is that we succeed: "If you march long enough, you will definitely
stumble. Whether you stumble forward or backward or stop marching
completely is entirely up to you."
Point is, if you want to accomplish great things in your
life, you must be willing to attempt goals that are big enough and
new enough to change your business, social, cultural, or personal
environment - but also so big and so new that you run the risk of
failing. And when that happens (as it will), you need to be able to learn from your failure ... chalk it up to experience and move
on.
Today's Action Plan
Spend a little time today thinking about the memorable
successes in your life ... and your most memorable failures. Yes,
you feel good about your successes. But be honest. Haven' t you
learned a lot from your failures? So feel good about those
too.
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Keeping Your Brain, as Well as Your Body, in
Shape
A few weekends ago, I stopped by Michael Masterson' ;s house
to drop off a package. He was sitting in his poolside cabana with
several friends, each with his own copy of The New York
Times crossword puzzle. They were engaged in a serious b out
of wordsmanship.
This wasn't the first time I've seen Michael with a
crossword puzzle. Besides exercise, it's one of the few breaks he
allows himself during work hours. And if recent research is a ny
indication, both of these activities are helping him keep his
brain in shape.
- In a recent study, researchers set out to improve
the brain function in older people. They focused on: Memory
training. The subjects did brain teasers and crossword puzzles
several times a day.
- Exercise. They stretched and walked each
day.
- Diet. They ate five meals a day to maintain
balanced blood sugar, and their meals included plenty of omega-3
fats and antioxidants.
- Stress. In addition to stretching, the subjects did
relaxation exercises.
At the end of two weeks, all of the subjects showed marked
improvement on their brain scans ... and they performed better on
the cognitive tests. A control group showed no changes.
Like the rest of your body, you have to give your brain the
right fuel, adequate rest, and regular exercise for it to work
properly. So take a break here and there to do a crossword puzzle.
Or pull out that game of Scrabble and enjoy an evening with some
friends. It'll do your brain some good.
It's Good to Know: The Best Eggnog
If you plan to serve eggnog this weekend, consider picking
up Organic Valley
brand - recently rated "surprisingly good" by New York magazine.
"How bad can eggs, whole milk, refined sugar, and heavy
cream be?" they half-jokingly asked in the December 19 issue.
"Pretty bad" was the unfortunate answer. Their completely
subjective rankings and comments, from worst to first:
- Singularly Hideous: Ronnybrook. "Ewww," "Yechh," and "Aggghh" summed it up.
- Pretty Darn Awful: Silk Soy Nog and Horizon.
"Tastes like thin gruel"; "Throat scorching bite."
- Only Mildly Offensive: Farmland Dairies, Axelrod.
"Not horrible"; "I could handle if mixed with a lot of
booze."
- Surprisingly Good: Organic Valley. Superthick and
rich, relatively mild sweetness, a nice creamy color, speck s of
vanilla bean, and a pleasing "melted ice cream"
consistency.
Also surprising the reviewers was Southern Comfort brand
eggnog: "A good balance between sweet and spice," they said. "The
eggnog of choice for Janis Joplin fans."
Of course, these are all loaded with billions of calories
and tons of fat ... so you'll probably want to go easy on the
portions.
Find the nearest store in your area that
sells Organic Valley products here: http://organicvalley.coop/utility/where_to_buy
- Charlie Byrne
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Word to the Wise:
Schism
A "schism" (SKIZ-um) is a separation or
division into factions. The word is derived from the Greek
"skhizein" ("to split").
Example (as I used it today): "Alan Cowell, writing in The New York Times, points out that this debate (Should
[the boat] stand as an emblem of Mr. Campbell's successes before
the crash or of his final disaster?') - reflects a deeper schism
in the British intellectual
personality."
