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Aug.19
4:18 PM ET
Tuesday, 19 Aug 2008
Failure is My Own Personal Can of Spinach
By Jeffrey Taylor
Founder - Monster.com, Eons.com & Tribute.com
At any given moment in business, we are always staring down the barrel of success or failure. Sometimes its monumental (maybe even makes the news) but more times than not, its little
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Jeffrey Taylor |
Failure is great too as long as it's in check. I refer to it as my own personal spinach can. Failure creates life experience.
--I always tell my team you can make all the mistake you want just don't make the same one twice. Meaning to "learn" from your failures.
--One of my life mottos is "if you're nervous you are in danger of learning something".
In phone sales, it used to take me 16 no's to get to a yes. The no's did not deter me, in fact, I considered each no one call closer to Yes! When you have fun with your no's (your failures) you will find it empowering. Failure is about fortitude. The strength to press on instead of quiting for good.
I have late bloomer syndrome. Meaning my success always seems to take a while and this is easily proven-- in the 23 1/2 years it took me to graduate from college. I didn't learn the same way as a lot of my peers. I'm very hands on and very deep in the way I learn. After 5 1/2 years of college I dropped out. Then many years later, I decided my lack of degree was unfinished business and went back and graduated when I was 40. As an older student I learned more than I would have at 20 and made lots of contacts. My failure was really just a late blooming success.
We are asked a math problem in about 5th grade. What is the shortest distance between 2 points? Between A and B? The answer is a straight line. Life doesn't seem to work like that, at least not for me. Follow your own life direction.
Success is usually something that is "big in your own mind". A great local restaurant known for its great food in Boston will mean nothing to someone living in NYC. The chef thinks the world knows of his restaurant but in fact with greater perspective, few have actually heard of his wonderful culinary oasis. He is "big in his own mind" but over time his hard work will pay off as someone stops in for dinner from NYC. Failure is magnified in very much the same way as success, "big in your own mind". Failure seems to swirl around your head, quite literally, temporarily paralyzing your insides. Yet, if you pick your head off the floor and look around, you will realize most people don't know of your failure. Keep working toward your goal and before you know it you'll be placing one little activity after another on your way to something great.
You don't even have to like spinach to understand that power is drawn from your life experiences and failures add up just like successes.
Jeff Taylor
Founder
Eons.com
Tributes.com
Monster.com
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