- Lesson notes from 8/23/09

Failure as a Path to Success

La Mesa First United Methodist Church Youth
8.23.2009

Works Referenced:
Phil. 4:10-12
John Maxwell, Failing Forward, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2002.

“The secret to your future is wrapped up in your daily routine.” – Unknown

What is Failure?

Has there ever been anything you have failed at?

Three personal failures:

1) Nearly getting fired from my first youth director job.

2) Getting thrown out of school.

3) Not being accepted into a Ph.D. program.

Why did I fail?

1) I had a problem with a parishioner. I knew I had a problem, but ignored it. I didn’t tell the pastor of my issue. I didn’t talk to the woman with whom I had the problem. I let it fester in her for six months until she found a fault in me that she could ‘stick-it-to-me’ with.

2) When I was in high school, I NEVER did homework. I would do the big projects and get A’s on tests, but never do homework. The same happened when I went to college. The first semester went okay, I received two B’s and a C. But the next semester, when I had coursework I had not studied before, I earned two C’s and two F’s. The following semester, I paid more attention, but still did no homework. I earned an F in spanish. That placed me on academic probation. That means, if I didn’t get at least a 2.0 the next semester, the school would kick me out. The next semester, I did even less work, attended class even less and I earned three F’s and a D.

3) I didn’t do the necessary legwork. I knew that I had to find a mentor willing to work with me and I was more interested in living somewhere specific than attempting to find a mentor. I knew what I needed to do, but didn’t do it.

Segue: As I look back on these failures, it seems they all stem from one issue: ignoring problems and/or past failures. Does that mean that paying attention to failures could lead to successes?

What is your greatest achievement?

Three personal successes:

1) Finishing my master’s thesis.

2) Paying off my car.

3) Losing 40 lbs.

How did I do it?

1) One page at a time. Over six months, the time I took to write it, it was less than one page per day.

2) One double payment at a time. Each paycheck for one year, I paid a payment. That meant that when I got paid twice per month, I paid twice. I had two jobs, therefore, I might make four payments per month.

3) One pound at a time. Each day, I focused on completing one hour’s exercise (~500 calories burned) and cut out junk.

How do you get over your failures?

PHI 4:10-12, “Now, I have received much inner happiness by means of the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your concern or thinking for me; indeed, you also were thinking about me, but you lacked the opportunity to express it. Not because I am speaking with reference to poverty or lack; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”

But how do MOVE on?

John Maxwell, in his book Failing Forward, writes that “To conquer fear [of failure], you have to feel the fear and take action anyway” (p. 41).

How do you feel fear and take action anyway?

Maxwell quotes a medical journal he read: “The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it…. After you start doing [a] thing, that’s when motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it” (p.41).

Steps to take after failure:

Do:

1) Figure out why you failed.

2) Learn how not to make the same mistake again.

3) Move on… do something proactive.

4) Know you will make more mistakes.

Don’t:

1) Get paralyzed – remember to keep moving and doing.

2) Procrastinate – do it NOW.

3) Make excuses.

Remember, “The person who makes a mistake, then offers an excuse for it, adds a second mistake to his first” (p.40).