“Remember that even the most successful lives contain chapters of failure just as any good novel does, but how the book ends depends on us. We are the authors of our years, and our failures and defeats are only steps to something better.” —Og Mandino from A Better Way to Live
When’s the last time you read a great book or watched a great movie without *any* challenges? Right. Not gonna happen. The hero’s journey requires a hero and that hero MUST (!) battle his or her dragons in pursuit of her ultimate potential. That always involves rough spots. Times of failure. The dark night when we want to give up. Period. No getting around that.
The question isn’t whether or not we experience a chapter or three of the hard times (we better if we’re committed to actualizing!). The question is how the story ENDS. And we’re always the authors of that part of the story! Og tells us a great story to remind us that failure is required for success. It’s 1974. Hank Aaron is in pursuit of Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record. (And I was just born!) Og calls the Atlanta Braves and asks a young staffer how many times Hank struck out. “Strikeouts?” the young man asks. “Yep,” says Og. “I know Hank has 710 homers but how many strikeouts does he have?”
After a few minutes of researching, the young man comes back on the line and delivers the report: “As of last night, Hank has 1,262 strikeouts.” 710 homers. 1,262 strikeouts. Our hero Hank Aaron has struck out nearly TWICE the number of times he’s hit homers. And, he’s the best ever.
You can’t hit home runs without strikeouts. We can’t have success without failure. As Alan Watts would say, one “goes with” the other.
And as IBM founder Thomas Watson advises: “Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.”
Here’s to embracing the exhilarating hero’s journey that is our lives as we embrace a better way to live!
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