Today, during practice 69 with a team of fauxteen, I eavesdropped on kman and young James. James looked in the mirror, saw his blemish of a “mixed result” to his PA, and said to himself a beautiful truth. Do not miss this. This could be HUGE. Jimmy said, when he did not finish all his PA, fail.
He failed.
He did not allow his mind to focus on a partial win. He took his PA seriously. High performers embrace the word, fail. Failure is the road to victory. Think video games not Buckeye football. Gamers understand this concept more rightly than football fans. Do you see it?
Gamers see the word “fail” as feedback. The more they fail the more likely and rightly their learning. Epic fail is embraced. It is only a game, isn’t it. The highest performers in work and life are the hardest on themselves, not others. Normal folks, not so much. The norm is to reverse the equation. Your job is to work on your integrity. Aim at perfection. Do what you say you will do. No excuses. You will, oftentimes, fall short. You will learn. You will not loathe. You will close your own integrity gaps. You will get better. You will begin to believe in your PA and done so. You will begin to say what you mean. You will become a believer. You will become more believable. You will hold yourself to the highest bar and your team will want to reach as you do. Suddenly, the burst will arrive. Suddenly, the game will give you feedback you’ve been missing. Suddenly, you will score. You will, in fact, level up.
High performers fail frequently. High performers fail because they are reaching for targets they’ve determined are worth stretching toward. High performers are hard on themselves because they understand there is no such thing as partial credit. In their head, it is either a “done so,” or fail.
Today, during practice 69, a team of fauxteen got some feedback they could use. They will only get better, however, if they do something with their learning both individually and collectively. Good fail today, young James. Good fail. I see a new level in your future, do you?
BUILT TO LEAD 