Please check out my latest YouTube recording from The Blue Collar Enlightenment Podcast with Jonah. You can watch the podcast by clicking on the PODCAST & SPEAKING VIDEOS button at the top of this page and scroll down and click on The Blue Collar Enlightenment Podcast tab.
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Please check out my latest YouTube recording from the Beating Cancer Today Podcast with Kevin Hennings. You can watch the podcast by clicking on the PODCAST & SPEAKING VIDEOS button at the top of this page and scroll down and click on the Beating Cancer Today Podcast tab.
How often do you fail? How often do you try to fail? Most people would tell you that failure isn't something they strive for. However, failure and mistakes are key elements of achievement and success. As a matter of fact, the road to success is paved with failure. If you're not failing, you're not trying new things, and as a result, you're not growing and improving. When we fail, we should look for the lesson we were supposed to learn from that failure. One of the most famous quotes from the inventor of the light bulb, Thomas Edison, is, "I have not failed 1000 times in inventing the light bulb. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps." Failure creates a unique opportunity for personal growth and development. It also provides us the opportunity to explore new ways of creating. I've understood the importance of learning from failure throughout my life. I believe failure is so important to success that I dedicated an entire chapter in my book, Sustainable Excellence. The chapter is entitled, "Fail Often, Especially When You Are Young." Most of us read or had read to us when we were children, some of the more than sixty books written by the beloved children's author, Dr. Seuss. But, did you know that his first book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, was rejected twenty-seven times before it was picked up for publication? We cannot overestimate the importance of failure in the learning process. If you are willing to embrace your mistakes, you will more likely develop a growth mindset that can lead you down the road to success. Please check out the short video below about the failure one author experienced that almost caused her to give up. Also, please leave me a comment about the role mistakes and failures have played in the successes you have experienced in your life. What can you control in your life?
Maybe a better question is, what do you try to control in your life? Anne Wilson Schaef said, "Trying to control our lives puts us in a position of failure before we start." When I was coaching high school basketball I would remind my players that the only things they had any control over while playing the game were their attitude and their effort. Everything else was outside their control. I wanted them to understand that no matter how hard they tried or wanted something to occur, they had very little control over the outcome, especially when other people were involved. They had no control over a referee making a bad call that forced them to spend most of the game on the bench. They had no control over having one of those games where there seemed to be a lid on the basket and none of their shots were going in. They had no control over a teammate missing them for a wide-open layup. The players needed to learn that by relinquishing control of the uncontrollable, they had a much better mindset to adapt to the positive and negative aspects of the game as they unfolded. The Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius said, "The nearer a person comes to a calm mind, the closer they are to true strength." No matter how hard you want a square peg to fit in a round hole, it simply isn't going to happen...and the harder you try to control it, the more frustrated you become. "Radical acceptance," is a psychological term that refers to the practice of accepting the difficult parts of life. Once you come to terms with what you can't control, you can focus on the things that are within your control. By accepting the uncontrollable events and situations in your life, you empower yourself to make meaningful changes on focus on the things you have control over. Leave me a comment about your thoughts on the importance of letting go of the things that are uncontrollable in your life. Please check out my latest YouTube recording from the Onion Soup Podcast with Dexter Morton. You can watch the podcast by clicking on the PODCAST & SPEAKING VIDEOS button at the top of this page and scroll down and click on the Onion Soup Podcast tab.
Please check out my latest YouTube recording from The Resilience Hour Podcast with Rachel Zito. You can watch the podcast by clicking on the PODCAST & SPEAKING VIDEOS button at the top of this page and scroll down and click on The Resilience Hour Podcast tab.
Please check out my latest YouTube recording from The Mindshift Power Podcast with Fatima Bey. You can watch the podcast by clicking on the PODCAST & SPEAKING VIDEOS button at the top of this page and scroll down and click on The Mindshift Power Podcast tab.
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![]() ![]() Author & SpeakerTerry is a sought after speaker who believes in the power of a story to motivate, inspire, and help others lead their uncommon and extraordinary lives. By combining his thirteen-year terminal cancer journey with his diverse business, athletic coaching, and hostage negotiating expertise, he delivers compelling yet relatable presentations for conferences, on-line events, panels, meetings, and seminars. Archives
February 2025
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