Success Leaves Clues…But So Does Failure.

Tony Robbins, the great motivational speaker, has been credited with the idea that success leaves clues.  His point in sharing this thought is if you are a person looking to become successful in wealth, business, health, your family life, or any other pursuit, you should look to those that have already accomplished what you are seeking for yourself and follow the patterns laid out in their journey.  While I cannot agree more, I believe that many people are earlier in their pursuit of change in their life.  Success isn’t the goal during this chapter of their lives.  For many it’s simply surviving, it’s not being constantly stressed or angry, it’s stopping the self-sabotage, it’s finding the courage to leave a toxic relationship, or make any number of first steps before they will even begin to utter the word success.  At this point in a person’s journey, “success” is removing a habit or ending a pattern that is causing pain or perpetuating a cycle of failures.   There are still clues that are left, but these clues are on a path that leads in the wrong direction. 

We are each on our own individual journey, and while we may admire aspects of another’s life or wish we were free of some of the chains that seem to bind us and not others, it is important to remember two key points.  We will never have the same life as another, and everything we want is within our own control.  If a “journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”, then perhaps our first step is taking stock of where we are right now.  What successes and failures have brought us to where we are right now.  Is your health where you’d like?  Is your financial situation something you would consider a success?  Is your business thriving?  If the answer to these, or any other pursuit is no, then rather than first directing our attention to the successes of others in search of clues, I will argue that we should first look at the “failures” of our past to learn the lessons from them.  Renown inventor Thomas Edison, when discussing the many unsuccessful attempts during the creation of the lightbulb famously stated, “I have not failed.  I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  Your pursuit is much the same.  You have not failed if you are seeking lessons from your journey thus far.  You have simply learned ways that won’t work in your pursuit.