What Would You Do If You Couldn’t Fail?

Interestingly enough, children have a hard time answering this question because in their minds anything is possible. Why do you think as adults we have to remind ourselves of what is possible by asking questions such as this? Take a moment to think about this.

Have we become conditioned by our experiences or our environment to think a certain way? Maybe it’s someone that we love and trust telling us that we “need to be more realistic” or “that couldn’t possibly work”. Perhaps we’ve made that attempt to start a new business, write a book or even face the challenge of weight loss and failed.

If you think back to childhood, how many times did you fall off your bike before you were able to pedal down the street? Then once you made it down the street, some of you probably attempted to ride without holding on to the handlebars.

Several years ago, my fiancé was teaching his daughter how to ride her bike and the initial experience for her was an agonizing one because she thought it would be so easy. It had to be because all her friends were able to ride their bikes so why couldn’t she? As she tried to keep the bike steady as she pedaled, you could see the look in her eyes that displayed fear and at times it was completely justifiable especially the time when she ran into the brick pillar at the end of the drive way.

This is when she made the decision to give up but my fiancé wouldn’t let her. He would encourage her to keep getting back on her bike during the times when she was the most fearful to overcome all the negative affirmations that was running through her mind. Eventually she became more confident with the process and was able to ride longer and longer without falling.

What if she made the decision to no longer keep trying even though her success of riding was only days away? What if we would’ve encouraged her to quit because it was too painful for us to see her work through the emotional & physical pain?

As we have become adults, most of us tend to continue doing what is comfortable for us to avoid failure. Often times this leads to existing in life and not living life. So ask yourself, what would you do if you couldn’t fail and write down all of your answers? There aren’t any wrong answers.

Now ask yourself, what would you do if you knew you would fail and would later lead to success?

Did you know that Thomas Edison made 9,999 attempts before he successfully created the light bulb; that Henry Ford’s first two car companies failed and left him for broke before he founded Ford Motor Company or that Walt Disney was fired when he was a young editor because, “he lacked imagination and didn’t have any ideas” and faced bankruptcy twice then eventually went on to build Walt Disney that now generates approx. $30B annually?

Ask yourself again, what would you do if you knew you would fail but would later lead to success?

Kristine Karsten

Inspiration Stagnation

By Jim Stovall          · July 9,2012

 When people fail, it’s generally not because they don’t know what to do. It is that they don’t do what they know.

 People who are suffering from the deficiency of not knowing what to do can find an easy and     immediate remedy as close as the Internet or their local library. Knowing what to do is relatively  simple. Doing what we know separates winners from losers.

I have heard success experts and motivational speakers say for years that in order to succeed you must have a goal. While this is inevitably true, most people aren’t suffering because they don’t have a goal. They’re suffering because they have too many.

If you have a sudden inspiration to change your life and, as a result of this inspiration, you decide to focus on your financial wellbeing, you have a high likelihood of finding success. If you focus all of your emotional energy toward setting a financial goal and putting a plan in place to achieve that goal, you are well on your way toward succeeding. On the other hand, if you find sudden inspiration and determine to improve your financial life and spend more time with your family, lose weight, exercise daily, meditate morning and night, volunteer three times a week, stay in closer contact with friends and family, and eat more fiber, you will most likely become overwhelmed and do nothing.

We all have a built-in fight or flight mechanism. When faced with a crisis, we instinctively choose a course of action and pursue it. A single crisis in your life will likely create a remedy. A single opportunity before you will probably result in a success plan waiting to be implemented. The challenge arises when we allow too many priorities to crowd into our immediate consciousness.

You’ve heard it said there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. This is true, but you will notice it is not 20 ideas whose time has come all together.

By virtue of the fact that you are reading this column, you probably have areas, facets, or elements of your life you would like to improve or change. While I don’t have the answer to your immediate challenge, I do have two questions that will help you discover that you already have the answer.

1. What immediate aspect of your life would you like to change now?
2. What is the one thing you can do today that will positively impact that area of your life?

As you go through your day today, vow to focus on all the goals of your life, but do it one at a time.

Butterfly Struggle

Sometimes in life we want to take the easy way out. We want things given to us with little effort. As appealing as this may sound, taking the easy road doesn’t give us the opportunity for growth.

The Olympics are on TV all over the World. These athletes trained harder and longer than anyone else just to get there. They compete for the chance to win a medal. Many times, the difference between getting a medal and not are milliseconds. These athletes were coached and trained to overcome obstacles including quitting; especially when it became mentally and physically demanding. These athletes didn’t quit, they pressed on no matter how hard it was. The journey that these athletes take reminds me of the story “Man and a Butterfly”:

One day, a man was walking in his garden, and he stumbled upon a butterfly. Seeing the other butterflies in the garden, he was anxious to see this one emerge from its cocoon.

  As he watched the cocoon, he noticed a small opening appear. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. After some time, it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. The man was so anxious to see the butterfly that he decided to help the butterfly. He went back into the house to find a pair of scissors. He took the scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. He thought to himself “What a great thing I have done for this beautiful butterfly. It would have surely died if I was not there to help.”

He watched the butterfly easily emerge from the cocoon. But as the butterfly emerged it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly. He knew at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support its body, and its body would contract in time. Within time, he thought the butterfly would be as beautiful as the other butterflies in the garden. To his surprise, neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening was nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. The butterfly needed the struggles to free itself from the cocoon.

Unknown Author

Struggles are exactly what we need to help us become the person we need to be. It’s the struggles and fighting against the odds that allow the Olympic Athletes to be the best in the world. If their coaches did not push them through all of the tough times, then they would not have the right to earn a medal. Always remember the butterfly story when you are faced with challenges. You are a stronger person after you have gone through your struggles in life. It is our struggle that allows us to fly.

Written by Reid Rushing

What is your Purpose or Passion?

Have you ever heard the quote, “The best 2 days in your life is the day you were born and the day you understand your purpose?” I’ve read or heard this quote on several occasions and really haven’t put much thought into it. I heard it again in a leadership conference this year and this time it resonated with me. 

Now think this through with me.  “The best 2 days in your life is the day you were born and the day you understand your purpose.” I definitely understand that I was born into this world for a reason and many of you can agree that you all feel the same way. How many of you know what that reason is? This is a question that can’t be answered overnight and requires thought and reflection. 

I believe that I’ve known my purpose for quite some time but didn’t realize and understand my purpose. You may already know what your purpose is and you may not understand “Why”. I can share with you that it’s what excites and energizes you. It’s what you can do all day long and not realize that time has passed. It’s what you can’t wait to do when you wake up every morning. This is not to say that it is easy; I’m saying that you’ll find a reason to do it rather than find a reason not to do it.

Yesterday I facilitated my first Lunch & Learn session for a young professional organization and shared this video with them which is a presentation from Simon Sinek who speaks to organizations connecting with their “Why”.  His talk was so profound to me because I was able to immediately relate it to my personal purpose, the mission statement in my insurance agency and to provide as a tool to those that we add value to in my leadership consulting firm.

During today’s session, it became more apparent than ever of how important it is to align ourselves with our purpose, our businesses and organizations with our mission to truly make a difference not only for ourselves but for our families, employees, volunteers and the people we serve.

We’re so focused on what we do and how we do it. The question is do we know why we do it?

Kristine Karsten

Bridging the Gap Consulting – “Learn, Lead and Live Your Passion”

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