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Thomas Edison’s Secret to Success: Embrace Mistakes & Failures
If we face up to the possibility of mistakes, we’ll learn to improve faster and thrive
Life is trial and error. Nobody can claim to be certain what the outcomes of their decisions and actions will be.
No matter what we plan to accomplish, we can’t wait until we have all the facts or are certain of success. That’s why being able to take action in spite of the risk of failure is often regarded as a critical element of success.
Thomas Edison; the man who invented the light bulb, failed many times and endured many mistakes until he got his breakthrough.
One day, a reporter asked him: “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?”
Edison replied: “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps. Great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophy.”
Most people suffer from mistake intolerance. They believe they have all the answers and can’t possibly be wrong about anything.
The downside is that this attitude limits their ability to solve problems. Why? Because if we think we already know the answer, we’ll close down ourselves and pass up the opportunity to learn from others.
