Chase After Failure

Most of us are afraid to make a fool of ourselves. In his book Failing Forward, John Maxwell says to embrace failure as a learning experience. His book describes many successful people and the massive failures that launched them into success.

As it turns out you don’t have to completely revamp your life overnight. All you really need, is to identify your bad habits—work to eliminate them, and develop good habits that will help you reach your goals. I found that if I spent a few minutes each day writing, I found that if I spent a few minutes reading each day, I had read an entire book.

And if I spent a few minutes exercising each day, I got in-shape. It was all about developing new habits and none of them were radical. A good place to get your reading done is in the car or in the bathroom. Place a book, magazine or article in the bathroom and inevitably the time will come when you have nothing better to do than read. In a few days or months, you will have read the entire thing. Maybe twice.

In the book, Cheaper by the Dozen, the family painted the Morse Code on their bathroom wall and in no time they had memorized it. The same can be done with maps, the sign-language alphabet or Bible verses. Turn off the TV, skip the internet and delete video game apps.

Nothing will waste your time faster, and cause you more harm than using these devices to devour the only productive years you have. If these items are addictions for you then tell yourself that you can watch and play them forever—when you’re in a nursing home. Until then, delete them from your phone, cancel your subscription and put time limits on your computer (it’s under “settings.”) The book The Power of Habit, really helps you understand the power of the things that we do on a daily basis and how they can take over our lives.