Failure (aka: success)

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I wrote this a few years ago while watching one of my boys at his first ever practice session for an age group swim team. I thought it appropriate to post today as many schools are finishing up before summer break, and report cards will begin arriving by snail mail and email. Even if you don’t have kids in school any longer, I believe we need to remember that failure can be success.

FAILURE.
Have you ever watched your children fail?  Or, maybe not so much failure as ‘not succeeding’ at something?  An attempt is made, but success does not appear.  Why?  Lack of training? Lack of skill or talent?

As parents it hurts to see failure in our children.  My first response many times goes along the lines of, “What can I do to fix it?”  (My wife would say I react the same in our marriage.)

Can you fix it?  Is there something that needs to be fixed?  No.  Failure, or lack of success, is normal.  Not succeeding at a task is part of life.  This is how we learn.

In my job, I fail everyday.  Similar to a major league baseball player, if I succeed 30% of the time I am considered a success.  Failure occurs 70% of the time.  What would my kids think if they observed my failures?

As our children grow, they will fail.  It’s okay.  The experience may hurt (for them and you), but it will be okay.  Hug them.  Cry with them.  Get angry together.  And then, plan for what comes next.  What activity can we jump into next?  When will the next experience occur?  It doesn’t matter what, where or when.  What matters is that you are present.  Failure or success.

What failure has been a success for you?

Pardon me, but do you have (the) time?

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Time. Tick tock.
How may seconds in your day?

Now that it is Day 28, I have discovered that we all have plenty of time available. We waste most of it.
I recently read somewhere (I apologize for not remembering where so as to provide the appropriate credit), that a typical worker in a typical work setting is only effective during the first 5 hours or so of the day.

No matter how hard we try, we aren’t 100% productive. It is impossible for us as less than perfect beings, to be 100% productive. We lose focus. We get tired (no matter how many cups of Starbucks, shots of 5-Hour Energy, cans of Monster or Cocoa-Cola we throw down).

We are lazy. Yep I said it. I admit it. I’m lazy.

I want to be awesome. All the time. But, I’m lazy. I don’t use all of my available time to work toward being more awesome. I probably need to convince myself that I won’t EVER be awesome all the time. Eh, take out the work “probably”. I need to come to grips with my imperfection. I believe we all understand that we aren’t perfect. We all know it is impossible for us, as fallen humans, to be perfect. So, why can’t we allow ourselves to be okay with the fact that we can’t do it all. We can’t be awesome all of the time.

Can we try to move toward being more awesome? You bet!

If you’re like me you want to do it all at once. “I’m going to be perfect today!” “I’m going to make effective use of every single minute of my day!”

By about 6:30am we’ve blown it. At least I have. You may get a bit further into your day than me.

Jon Acuff, author of the great new book “Start”, and creator of the blog “Stuff Christians Like”  (www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristanslike), has a couple of great suggestions to grab back some of the time we blow off and waste each and every day. ( I posted the link below.)

1. Work more.
Yep. We all get that one. A couple of more hours of focus each day.

2. Watch less TV.
What?! No way! I have to watch my shows! I can’t miss the baseball/hockey/football/soccer/basketball/golf game.

By far the easiest way for me to grab so more time from each and every day to work toward be more awesome, is to shut off the TV more often.

Last night I wanted to watch the Red Wings game. Game 6. “We” have the Blackhawks down 3-2. Series clinching game!

I didn’t see it.

My wife, bless her, insisted on watching something she wanted to watch. I could have gone to the other TV. Watched the hockey game all alone. I didn’t. I also didn’t really watch what she wanted to see. I stayed in the same room with her. I like to be around her. But, I read a book instead. I spent time with my wife (at least in the same room), and I took time to be more awesome by reading a book for the fun of it. I’m actually reading a book for enjoyment. Novel concept for many of us. The hockey game still went on without me. The Wings lost. (Game 7 coming up!!!!)

So, do you have (the) time?

http://www.jonacuff.com/blog/how-to-be-awesome-in-only-2-steps/