The Secret Difference Between the average and the Achievers

What is the secret difference between the average and the achievers?

Is it:

• family background?
• wealth?
• opportunity?
• high morals?
• the absence of hardship?

Nope! If you do enough research I am sure you can find plenty of people from less than desirable family backgrounds, who grew up in a lot of poverty, whose opportunities were limited. There are scoundrels who have made it big, and there are people who have suffered tremendous hardships, yet have achieved great fortunes against all odds.

"So then," you ask, "What is the critical success factor that separates the accomplished achiever from the apathetic average person?" That difference, states John Maxwell, in his book Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success, is their perception of and their response to failure.

Unfortunately, most of us are trained to avoid failure. One motivational question many success speakers ask is, "What is the one thing you would attempt if you knew you could not fail?" That is a poor question, because it presupposes you will not attempt it if you know that you will fail.

I'm paraphrasing this, but Watson, the founder of IBM, actually encouraged failure in his company, provided that people learned from their failures. Those who were overly cautious, he realized, would be those who were not imaginative, not innovative, not bold. If anyone wants to be successful, he stated, they need to double their failure rate.

Ask yourself the question, Am I failing backward, or am I failing forward?

Look at the following differences between the two, as per Mr. Maxwell:

The apathetic, average person who fails backward:

• blames others
• repeats the same mistakes
• expects never to fail again
• expects to continually fail
• accepts tradition blindly
• is limited by past mistakes
• thinks, "I am a failure"
• quits

The achiever chooses to fail forward:

• takes responsibility
• learns from each mistake
• knows failure is a part of progress
• maintains a positive attitude
• challenges outdated assumptions
• takes new risks
• believes something did not work, and is willing to try again
• perseveres

I challenge you, are you going to be an apathetic, average person, or are you going to choose to adopt the mindset of the accomplished achiever? Before you make the choice, remember the first step to failing forward:

Realize the one major difference between average people and achieving people.

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