Failing Forward

Failing!!!! Why is she writing about Failing?!? This next book review is on one of my favorite authors, John Maxwell. Maxwell has published over 60 books. He has some of the top books on Leaders in the world. This first book talks about something that most people want to hide from others.....FAILURE!

I'm all too familiar with this topic, and proud to say that failing has helped me move forward in life and business. We sometimes forget that our moms would tell us to "try, try again" or when we fall you have to "get right back up on that horse". This doesn't change as we get older, we just don't look at it the same as we did as kids and someone cheering us on to get back up.


"We overestimate the event and underestimate the process. Every fulfilled dream occurred because of dedication to a process". This is just one of the many points in this book that I too sometimes forget to take into consideration.

If we took all the times we missed a question on a test and never took another one, who would have won? Well, considering you would not have graduated first grade, I'm thinking reading this would be a little hard to do. Or what about trying out for track and entering that first race? Did you win straight out the gate without practice and dedication? I'm thinking, not.

As we grow up and become adults we don't stop this process. There is still a learning curve to everything, and when you think you have it mastered, there is always another angle.

So, failing is a must, but there is a second part to the title of this book.....forward.

When it talks about failing it also talks about moving forward. You can fail and stay "stuck in a rut" as they say. But again this book talks about using what you learn to move forward.

This is one of my favorite quotes: Michael Jordan, June 21, 1991, Wins First NBA Championship:
"I've missed more then 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot - and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Whether it's losing a race, missing that shot, or changing directions, you just have to keep moving forward and learning from your challenges.

Maybe we need to replace the word failure with learning. That's what it is!
It's an opportunity to learn from what happened and move forward.

This book is worth getting. If everyone could go back to when they were in their teens and read this book, how would it have helped? I can tell you that it has changed my life. It has taught me to view things in a different, yet better light, and who can't use that?

I can't wait to hear your comments.~