Quotes and Action Steps Series (#7). “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan (via Wikipedia)

Let us explore great quotes of the past and of the present to know how we can apply them to our life.
Note: Some sayings have been repeated a few times over the centuries, and from time to time we find that one quote is attributed to several different authors. 

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”  Michael Jordan

What does that mean?
 
If we are focusing on surface elements without discussing underlying problems, we’ll call business gurus (Henry Ford, Bill Gates) and thinkers (Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin), inventors (Thomas Edison) and public figures  (Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln), writers and artists (Vincent Van Gogh, Stephen King), musicians and athletes (Elvis Presley and Michael Jordan) successful persons.
But all of them and many other great people failed at first.
 It’s so called “the iceberg perspective”: only 10% of the iceberg is visible. 90% of it is hidden under water. The same goes for success.People see success and do not see failure, hard work, persistence, discipline, disappointment, risks.
Life is full of failures, but successful people understand the power of failure. Success requires that you learn from mistakes without giving up. If you don’t learn something from the failure, you’ll repeat the same mistake again.

Where can I apply this in my life?

Success is about learning how to recognize why you failed, and how you’re going to overcome failure. So each failure is an opportunity to learn.

Here are some steps to help you overcome failure:
1. Remember that failure is a great teacher, learn as much as possible from failure.
2. Don’t give up; maybe you are only one step away from success.
3. Maintain your enthusiasm.
4. Keep your confidence in yourself.

A definition of failure/success in photography is subjective and vague because photographers are not athletes that have concrete, substantiated goals: faster, higher and stronger.

All artists deal with failure regularly. But we can’t be sure if it’s a true failure. For example, the impressionists were considered failures by the critics at the 19th century since they violated the rules of traditional painting and this new style was disapproved. Later such painters as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir were declared the great painters.
But even if failure is a true failure do not let it paralyze you. It could be a photography technical failure or a personal failure, learn from them and move on.

As long as you are creating, that is all that matters.


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