Success or Failure … take your pick

I spent the day today at a leadership seminar and one of the speakers made the comment that failure is the early warning sign of success.  It really made me think about it and if I am honest, I am still thinking about it.  I mean, who really wants to fail?  What does that say about us and what we are doing?  Does it show that we are not capable of  understanding what needs to be done to make our “idea” a success?  Or does it show that we just don’t have what it takes to make it happen?

Or maybe, just maybe, it might mean that there will be something visible in that failure that will open up a world of possibility for what could be one of the greatest successes you will experience?  Or at least just that it will work and connect you to people in a way you could not imagine?

I wonder if our failures make it possible for us to show others that we are real.  Being real is one of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves and our friends.  When we make a genuine effort to be real and to risk taking a chance, we open ourselves up to failure.  However, if failure is an option then so is success.  I have often heard that you will never succeed if you do not try and if you try you run the risk of failure.  So, if there is even a slim possibility of experiencing a success then I must not be afraid of a failure.

So, the next time I see a failure (which will happen more than I want!!) I am going to remember that if I pay attention to the failure I might just see a success in the horizon.