Want Greater Success? Fail More Often!

Somewhere in between the apparently disconnected opinions of Tony Robbins’, “Perfect practice makes perfect” and Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali’s, “Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it…” those searching for truth may stumble upon one of the most seemingly simple and yet provocatively profound formulas for success ever discovered:

“Double your rate of failure.”

Rhetorically asking, “Would you like me to give you a formula for…success?” Thomas John Watson, Sr., the Founder of IBM stated, “It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.” Mr. Watson then continued, “[Most people are] thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all.”

True, if you’re performing brain surgery, working with plutonium, or packing your own parachute, doubling your rate of failure is not the advice you want to be following. So why pass it along? Because taken in context, those five words continue to provide the clear instructions the majority of success seekers actually need!

Think about it… Watson’s quest for excellence was profoundly simple: Get more products into the hands of more people. (Sound familiar?) So how well did that “Double your rate of failure” philosophy actually work? Well, by 1952 IBM had become such a powerful sales force, they controlled 90% of the tabulating machine market in the United States!

Now to be fair, making a personal commitment to become a bit (or a lot) better at your chosen profession is always a good idea… But let’s not confuse preparation with performance. Because if all you’re really doing is spending countless hours getting ready, without actually doing much of anything, you will never experience the beauty of Watson’s words… In essence, how increased activity leads to abundant accomplishment.

Therefore, if your inward desire is to ultimately achieve a greater degree of success, in Network Marketing or otherwise, then consider applying Watson’s sage advice; shift what you’re focusing on and see if you can, through increased activity, “Double your rate of failure.”

All the best,

MSC

P.S. While Lexus continues “The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection” if you are interested in following in Watson’s footsteps, then gift a copy of “Go For No!” (along with this article) to anyone in your life who’s ready to fail their way to massive success!

Will we see each other next year?

It happens, I get that, but I will never completely understand why… Why does someone suddenly appear to represent a Network Marketing Company and then disappear just as quickly as the colors of summer turn and then fade away?

What happened to them? Where did they go? Was it our fault they left us so swiftly? The flowers will return in the spring, but will those we’ve witnessed wither and die return in the subsequent season?

They probably didn’t have big dreams. They probably didn’t even understand what it was they were supposed to do. They probably were a little scared. But they told us they wanted, or perhaps even needed, their business to succeed. It was important to them…

And yet they’re gone.

Did they return to the jobs they hated? Did they return to unrewarding careers? Did they give up on their future and settle for an even smaller fraction of the life they deserved?

Too many questions rush though my mind as yet another year creeps ever closer to its conclusion… And what a year it’s been: twenty-two live events, three different countries, on two continents, with the same predictable results: Too many quitting too soon.

So what about you? When 2009 draws to its inevitable conclusion fifty-five weeks from now, where will we find you? Will you still be here, actively building your Network Marketing business and loving the life you live? Or will you have become another sad statistic somewhere along the highway of success?

True, how you chart your course is your choice. But remember that your direction, right or wrong, will still determine your destination. With so many distractions in life, is it any wonder that trying to stay on track is perhaps the most difficult thing we will ever do?

And yet after 25 years as a distributor, writer, and speaker, I’ve still witnessed far too many good people quit Network Marketing too soon. In part because they didn’t believe; they didn’t take the time to learn; and they didn’t fundamentally understand that Network Marketing only works when we do.

But the story of those who quit doesn’t need to be yours! If you want to succeed in Network Marketing, go to work on your belief, your skills, and your activity. Became a serious student. Learn how this business works. And promise yourself you’ll be here, still actively involved, a year from now!

All the best,

MSC