You Think Therefore You Are! You’re Not Failing, You’re Learning!
Posted by Andrew | Posted in How To | Posted on
Tags: Cogito ergo sum, confidence, Descartes, Education, Entrepreneur, failure, France, Philosophy, René Descartes, Thomas Edison
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I think therefore I am!
Well, eventually, Mr. Descartes was sitting alone in a world where everything may not be as it seemed but then, instead of looking outward, he looked inward at himself, and realized that at last, there was proof. The fact that he could think, that he had thoughts running through his consciousness, those thoughts proved he existed.
He came to a powerful conclusion. ”I think therefore I am.”
Around about now I’m sort of expecting a big “So what?” from people reading this…
So what right?
Descartes thought he existed, therefore he existed.
Being an entrepreneur and a successful one at that, starts at exactly the same place as our half crazy Mr. Descartes.
He thought he existed, so he did. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur you need to have that inward belief too. You need to know you are a kick ass, no holds barred, no obstacle to stop you, world shaking, entrepreneur.
You will have failures “guaran-damned-teed” and we live in a culture where failures are looked down on to the point where we deploy spin to prove they weren’t really failures but success….sometimes we even fool ourselves. Spin, dodge and weave but in reality, a failure is only truly a failure when you fail to gain education from the experience .
Maybe you hate failure, but how do you feel about education?
Probably pretty good huh?
Thomas Edison made over 9000 light bulbs that exploded and failed to workone after another
The 1st light bulb *POP* failed!
2nd light bulb *POP* failed….dammit!
Now you and me, maybe after 10 pops, perhaps 100 pops maybe even 250 pops we’d have raised our hands and said “I’m a failure! This is never going to happen!”
When Edison was asked if he minded having 9000 failures rumor has it he answered,
“I didn’t have 9000 failures, I learnt 9000 ways not to make a light bulb…”
So as you start your business seize onto those failures, both small and large, and understand them, dissect them, know them even more intimately than your successes…they may not keep you warm at night but it’s the lessons you learn, that help you to be a stronger entrepreneur and lead you towards your success.
And if you really want to gain the best education from these failures make sure you OWN them.
Make them yours.
What do I mean by that? If something goes wrong, if there’s a failure don’t push responsibility for it onto someone or something else.
That makes you a pawn, a person pushed around by forces beyond your control.
That is not you…that is not an entrepreneur.
YOU are responsible for your successes and your failures. You are COMPLETELY responsible. WOW – doesn’t that take a weight off? Now you don’t have to worry about who to blame?
And now you also own the education and learning you get from these experiences.
So now you can use those thoughts to move yourself towards greater success because…
“You think therefore you are”
…So if you believe you are going to create your own success…
You will. Mr. Descartes proved it more than 350 years ago and a dead Frenchman can’t be wrong.
Do you think I’m half crazed? Let me know with your comments – does any of this strike a cord with you?
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Love that Edison anecdote! You should check out @Strebel’s presentation from today on a similar topic, you’d dig it!