“I have not failed. I have merely found 10,000 ways that did not work.”
~Thomas Edison

How often do we quit because, in our minds at least, we’ve failed? We try something new, only to feel defeated and give up our attempts and our dreams. Would we all be sitting here in darkness if Thomas Edison had done the same thing?

It can be enlightening and freeing to look at our unsuccessful attempts not as failures, but simply as ways that didn’t work. We can then cross those efforts off the list and try something new to achieve our goal.

I’ve been telling people for years now that I’m writing a book – and I’m now on the fourth draft of my proposal. There is a voice in me that sometimes shares, “Give it up. You’ve sent this out before and been rejected – you won’t succeed, so let this dream go.” On my good days I don’t heed that voice. On my less-guided days, I question my efforts and my sanity…

Perhaps I haven’t failed in my prior attempts. Perhaps I merely tried ways that didn’t work and, most importantly, perhaps this time, this way (or the next) will be the one that works. Perhaps if I’m still inspired by the vision of where I’m going and what I’m doing, I can try at least one more time and one more way.

Question the inner voice that tells you you’ve failed, and try again, in another way, to achieve your dream.

Where have you given up because of failure? How else can you choose to see your “failure” so that you can try another way?
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