It is a general misconception that successful people do everything right and have experienced nothing but success along the way.
However, the truth is that successful people fail quite a lot of the time and use what they learn from these failings to build success for the future.
Some well-known examples can illustrate this point clearly. Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful British football manager of all time, won 49 trophies in his glittering career that included 13 Premiership titles and two Champions League titles. He achieved this by winning a little less than 60 per cent of all games he was in charge of. The other 40 per cent of games were either lost or drawn.
In his prime, Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers of all time, won about 27 per cent of the tournaments he entered, about one tournament in every four he took part in. While it may not sound that impressive, most professional golfers making a successful living from the game will end their careers with a win rate of about 1 or 2 per cent.
Former PayPal entrepreneur and Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk, formed a company in 2002 called Space X with the goal of creating the technologies (mainly space rockets ) to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonization of Mars. The company’s unsuccessful launch and landing attempts have been well documented in the media, however each ‘failed’ attempt enables the company to make progress towards its goal, meaning it is only a matter of time before the team there get it right.
It must be recognised that failure is part of the road to success and is necessary for learning, which ultimately acts as a building block for success.
Why not make an appointment with career coach Pádraig O’Connor today and take the first step towards success. For more information or to make a booking call (087 ) 7058989 or email [email protected]. Sessions are conducted from The Dancing Soul, Monksland Business Park, Athlone.
