Howard Schultz, Michael Jordan, J.K. Rowland and You…

Are NOT failures. 

The first banks and venture capital firms Howard Schultz went to, turned him down.

Michael Jordan set a playoff record by scoring 63 points but the Boston Celtics made sure his team didn’t win the game and the NBA championship.

The first publisher J.K. Rowland wanted to tell her story, she got an “Unfortunately… No thanks.” letter.

Maybe you have doubts. All the whispers around you and society doesn’t think it will work. You've tried it before. A part of you can’t see yourself successful.

It’s normal.

Why do I want you to fail?

Instead of trying to understand “fail” academically…

(Dictionary = be unsuccessful in achieving one’s goal)

From now on, I want you to change your view on “fail” or “failure” to an attempt, experiment, a data point and that you made a great effort. “Try” and “fail” are just a combination of letters and words. How you analyze them speaks to you differently. 

I want you to fail...

Not fail harder.

Not fail softer. 

Not “I don’t want to fail at all”.

I want you to fail FORWARD.

Howard Schultz failed forward and looked at what happend.

He had a vision that his coffee shop would be world class and remarkable. 242 venture capital firms said “No”. But trial, error and relentlessness got him funding at 243rd. Now you see Starbucks everywhere.

Michael Jordan failed forward and looked at what happened. 

When he was drafted, the Chicago Bulls were at the bottom. His vision was to raise the franchise so that they would be in the same bracket or higher than the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics. For 6 years, all the opponents said “No”. But hard work, a great system, an excellent strategy and consistency made him the Final MVP and NBA Championship in his 7th season.

J.K. Rowland failed forward and looked at what happened.

Even though she rarely told anyone, she had a vision of writing and telling stories to the world. Without a job, single mother and suicidal thoughts she had dozens of publishers rejected her. She overcame it and turned “Harry Potter” into a triumphant business. Books, movies, theatres and fashion. 

Success and failure are inseparable twins.

No ones perfect. 

We’re human and we all make mistakes in writing, training and presenting. We obsess over perfection while forgetting the process of IMPERFECTION is what gets you where you REALLY want to go. 

For your vision, you have to operate outside of your comfort zone. I want you to adopt that failure is feedback. In order to get the information you need to achieve your goal(s), you have to apply, try or fail forward. You have to get things WRONG so we can shake things up and try something else. We tend to look at “fail” as an objective that creates a great amount of fear from making mistakes. 

I make mistakes EVERYDAY. I probably made 9 errors in this blog.

(Shrugging shoulders) Sorry. 

Because I don’t want you to repeat your own health and fitness mistakes…

I’ll hold your hand when you take big leaps.

I’ll be the first person to push back at the vulnerable mentally which doesn’t help you improve.

I’ll show you the big picture and what obstacles to look out for.

I’ll make sure you remove all the external and internal criticism.

I’ll give you clarity and reveal every layer in between.

I’ll ensure that when you sleep at night, you’re smiling because you know you’re getting better in every possible way.

I’ll guide you through the entire process to shortcut you to success and you can reach out and grab it.

Your big moment and your breakthrough is coming. 

I can’t wait. 

Don’t doubt yourself.

Winston Churchill said, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” 

Fail forward now so I can see that grin from ear to ear as you become the most stunning, confident, beautiful and positive person.

-Arthur