The Formula for Failure

The Formula for Failure

by Jim Rohn

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of
an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more
than a few errors in judgment repeated every day.

Now why would someone make an error in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat it every
day? The answer is because he or she does not think that it matters.

On their own, our daily acts do not seem that important. A minor oversight, a poor decision, or a
wasted hour generally doesn't result in an instant and measurable impact. More often than not, we
escape from any immediate consequences of our deeds.

If we have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days, this lack of discipline does not
seem to have any immediate impact on our lives. And since nothing drastic happened to us after the
first ninety days, we repeat this error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it goes.
Why? Because it doesn't seem to matter. And herein lies the great danger. Far worse than not
reading the books is not even realizing that it matters!

Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy
of the moment overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem to matter. Those who
smoke too much or drink too much go on making these poor choices year after year after year...
because it doesn't seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these errors in judgment have only been
delayed for a future time. Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate until the
inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the price must be paid for our poor choices - choices
that didn't seem to matter.

Failure's most dangerous attribute is its subtlety. In the short term those little errors don't seem to
make any difference. We do not seem to be failing. In fact, sometimes these accumulated errors in
judgment occur throughout a period of great joy and prosperity in our lives. Since nothing terrible
happens to us, since there are no instant consequences to capture our attention, we simply drift from
one day to the next, repeating the errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to the wrong voices
and making the wrong choices. The sky did not fall in on us yesterday; therefore the act was
probably harmless. Since it seemed to have no measurable consequence, it is probably safe to
repeat.
But we must become better educated than that!

If at the end of the day when we made our first error in judgment the sky had fallen in on us, we
undoubtedly would have taken immediate steps to ensure that the act would never be repeated
again. Like the child who places his hand on a hot burner despite his parents' warnings, we would
have had an instantaneous experience accompanying our error in judgment.

Unfortunately, failure does not shout out its warnings as our parents once did. This is why it is
imperative to refine our philosophy in order to be able to make better choices. With a powerful,
personal philosophy guiding our every step, we become more aware of our errors in judgment and
more aware that each error really does matter.

Now here is the great news. Just like the formula for failure, the formula for success is easy to
follow:
It's a few simple disciplines practiced every day.

Now here is an interesting question worth pondering:

How can we change the errors in the formula for failure into the disciplines required in the formula
for success?

The answer is by making the future an important part of our current philosophy. Both success and
failure involve future consequences, namely the inevitable rewards or unavoidable regrets resulting
from past activities. If this is true, why don't more people take time to ponder the future? The
answer is simple: They are so caught up in the current moment that it doesn't seem to matter. The
problems and the rewards of today are so absorbing to some human beings that they never pause
long enough to think about tomorrow.

But what if we did develop a new discipline to take just a few minutes every day to look a little
further down the road? We would then be able to foresee the impending consequences of our
current conduct. Armed with that valuable information, we would be able to take the necessary
action to change our errors into new success-oriented disciplines. In other words, by disciplining
ourselves to see the future in advance, we would be able to change our thinking, amend our errors
and develop new habits to replace the old.

One of the exciting things about the formula for success - a few simple disciplines practiced every
day - is that the results are almost immediate. As we voluntarily change daily errors into daily
disciplines, we experience positive results in a very short period of time. When we change our diet,
our health improves noticeably in just a few weeks. When we start exercising, we feel a new vitality
almost immediately. When we begin reading, we experience a growing awareness and a new level
of self-confidence. Whatever new discipline we begin to practice daily will produce exciting results
that will drive us to become even better at developing new disciplines.

The real magic of new disciplines is that they will cause us to amend our thinking. If we were to
start today to read the books, keep a journal, attend the classes, listen more and observe more, then
today would be the first day of a new life leading to a better future. If we were to start today to try
harder, and in every way make a conscious and consistent effort to change subtle and deadly errors
into constructive and rewarding disciplines, we would never again settle for a life of existence - not
once we have tasted the fruits of a life of substance!