“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” -Napoleon Hill
Being from Maryland, I had the privilege of growing up watching and playing lacrosse at a high level. I remember my first game, it was at the Naval Academy during halftime of a collegiate game between Navy & John Hopkins, two of the top teams in the nation. Being a naive 10 yr old, I was confused to why the attack would sometimes pass the ball back to the defenders. “Dad, why do they pass the ball backwards?” I asked with the utmost curiosity and his answer stuck with me to this day “Larry sometimes you have to go backwards to create a way to move forward.” This was something at the time that did not make much sense but over time, just like many parental lessons, I saw more and more the truth of that statement. This simple principle is one that many Entrepreneurs and salespeople display and practice every day. Failure, cannot be looked at as an obstacle but an opportunity to project you into the future. A great example of a successful entrepreneur who was able to do this is Steve Jobs. He was turned down by many investors and took that as a lesson to truly learn what the customer wants. He was fired from the company he founded and was able to take that opportunity to create another company and learn how to interact better with people better and realise what is important to him. This lead to his eventual return to Apple, and the growth of what is today one of the most influential and innovative companies in the world. I hope we would be able to do the same, learn from our failure and see them as an opportunity to move forward. Don’t look at failure as moving backwards, but your path forward being more clearly presented.
BoweryJE22