The Mindset of Successful People: "Failure" is a New Step Forward

The other day, my daughter said something like this.

"Daddy, I want to quit piano."

My daughter has been taking piano lessons for a year.

She has been going every week looking very happy, so I assumed she loved the piano.

However, this was a sudden, shocking confession!

Me: "What's wrong?"

Daughter: "I can't play it well."

Me: "Have you come to dislike the piano?"

Daughter: "I like the piano."

Me: "You don't want to practice?"

Daughter: "I don't really want to do it."

Me: "Why?"

Daughter: "Because I just can't do it..."

It seems she has fallen into a vicious cycle of:

Can't play the song
↓
Don't want to play because I can't
↓
Won't get any better at playing

It seems she has fallen into this vicious cycle orz

Me: "Will you let Daddy hear you play just once?"

Daughter: "Okay..."

Reluctantly agreeing, my daughter plays it once.

Then, I realized there were only two parts she couldn't play well.

Me: 'It looks like you're having trouble here and here.'

Daughter: 'Yeah.'

Me: 'Then, why don't we try playing just the parts you can't play, slowly, once a day?'

Daughter: 'Hmm... okay.'

And so, she started practicing just the parts she couldn't play, once a day, slowly.

A week later...

Daughter: 'Dad, I can do it now.'

Me: 'That's great! You can play it now.'

Daughter: 'Yeah, I can play it this fast now.'

Saying that, she looked very happy as she played the song she couldn't play a week ago from start to finish.

'I don't want to start because I don't want to fail.'
'It's not going well, so maybe I should quit.'

When you are challenging yourself with something,
it's natural to feel down
when you fail or things don't go well.

'Maybe I don't have any talent.'
'Won't I just stay the same even if I keep going?'
'Won't I just fail to make money if I keep doing this?'

I think it's normal to feel anxious sometimes.

But just because you failed,
it doesn't mean
that everything is going wrong.

There is always a cause for failure. If you trace the cause, there is always a solution.

In my daughter's case, tracing the cause of 'I want to quit piano' led to 'I can't play the song' which meant 'there are parts I can't play.'

By solving the 'parts she couldn't play',
she became able to play the song,
and the problem of wanting to quit piano was also solved.

Failure is the starting point

As for me,

"I'm afraid of failing."
"I failed, so I'll quit."

I used to think that way.

It's embarrassing to fail.
I have to make sure I don't fail.

No matter what I did,
I was always thinking things like that.

However, after learning a certain quote,
my way of thinking about "failure"
changed completely.

These are the words of the inventor Thomas Edison.

In short,
failure is nothing more than "data" for success
is what it means.

This really shocked me.

After all, not viewing failure as failure
don't you think that's a very revolutionary way of thinking?

The Mindset of Successful People

Like me, many people,
when doing things,

Ready -> Aim -> Fire

think in that order.

Get into the right position,
aim carefully so you don't miss,
and fire!

That's not it.

People who are successful, starting with Edison,

Ready -> Fire -> Aim

think in that order.

Get into the right position,
fire for now!
And then, adjust your aim.

1. Prepare: Get ready

2. Act: Produce results

3. Aim: Improve

It is this cycle.

What happens after the result is what matters and
the starting line is after you fail is how I think about it.

Whether you are a musician,
an athlete,
or an entrepreneur,

whether it is studying,
a hobby,
or work,

it is all the same;
successful people all
view failure as 'data' to lead them to success.

That is why they are happy to fail.

They say, 'Yes! I found a way that doesn't work!'

By failing, you gain data,
and based on that data, you think of your next move.

The more you fail, the closer you get to your goal
is the mindset.

In 2019, Takafumi Horie, also known as Horiemon,
succeeded in launching a rocket into outer space.

It was a first for a private Japanese company.

However, during the launch one year prior in 2018,
it exploded four seconds after launch and failed.

At that time, Horiemon left
this positive comment at a press conference.

While most people watching were disappointed,
the people involved in the rocket development
were not in a depressed mood.
From the moment of failure, they were already thinking about their next move.

Finally, let me introduce one more quote from Edison.

There is no need to fear failure.
It is not a failure; it is simply data.

Only by failing can you move forward.
The more you fail, the closer you get to success.

If you adopt that way of thinking,
wouldn't you stop being afraid of failing?