Here's to Bigger Failures

In lieu of resolving to exercise, learn a new skill, or travel somewhere exotic my New Year's Resolution is simple: I want to fail, more.

I know that on the surface that sounds ridiculous. But let's unpack it for a second. Some of the most successful people talked a lot about their willingness to fail. And fail often.

Edison said he wasn't failing with his first 10,000 attempts at creating a light bulb...he was just learning what didn't work. Brilliant.

Or consider these...

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” - Walt E. Disney

"I've missed more than 9000 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." - Michael Jordan

"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run." - Babe Ruth

Why do so many famous people talk a great deal about failure? Simple, their willingness to fail is directly tied to their ability to succeed.

So the logic goes: the more risks you take, the more often you fail. And the more often you fail, the greater chance you have to succeed.

Over the next year I am hoping to increase my failures significantly. In doing so, I hope to achieve great things. Now, I just need to figure out what I want to fail at first.

Any ideas?


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The 99% Kind of Change

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

A few weeks back I was planning on writing a post about people that add quotes to their Facebook pages about changing the world. You know the ones. The "dance like no one's watching", "try something new everyday" types.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized something.

Less than 1% of change in the world comes from monumental choices, inventions, causes, political movements, etc. Those are the ones that grab all the headlines. The ones that receive awards, and are placed on pedestals. And rightly so. Great achievement deserves recognition.

But what about the other 99% of change? The kind of change that comes slowly, sporadically, but steadily from people all around us. The kind that comes from people that post things like "Live. Laugh. Love." on their wall.

Robert F. Kennedy said it best. "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

I think that's what Gandhi meant as well. He didn't mean that we each need to tackle a global issue head on (though I truly respect those who take up that sort of cause.)

Because in pursuit of causing one great change (the 1%) you can miss the 99% of opportunities all around you to affect others in a positive way.

Regardless of what your Facebook wall says, why not look for opportunities at work, at home, and all around you to impact people and cause real change? The 99% kind that will never win you any awards, but can have a huge impact on someone's life.