There’s No Such Thing As Failure
To overcome a fear of failure, you must realise that there really is no such thing as failure. Success and failure are merely perceptions. Something that might look like a failure at the moment is only another step to your eventual success, or even the success itself.
Take the story of the now famous and hugely successful Post-it note. The adhesive used in Post-it notes was invented in 1968 by 3M researcher Spencer Silver. He was attempting to design a strong adhesive, but he actually ‘failed’ and the adhesive he developed was very weak. Dr Silver tried unsuccessfully for five years to find a use for his new adhesive. Arthur Fry, a new-product development researcher, attended one of Silver’s seminars, and he was intrigued by the strange adhesive. During his spare time Arthur Fry sang in a church choir, and it annoyed him that the bookmark in his hymn book would always fall out when he stood up to sing. One day he realised that he had found the perfect use for Dr Silver’s glue — it could be used to make a bookmark!
The original Post-it notes were used as bookmarks, and the remainder were shown to the 3M marketing department, but they rejected them as useless (a failure). Arthur Fry gave them to his secretary to dispose of, but she instead found what is now the classic use for them. Fry told her to distribute the remaining notes to all the executive secretaries in the 3M offices. When they ran out, she was inundated with calls for more. These calls were passed on to the marketing department, who finally got the idea. Initial prototypes were available in 1977, and by 1981, after a large sampling campaign, the product had been introduced around the world.
Everyone now knows and uses Post-it notes. This is a classic tale of a failure turned into a success. Post-it notes have been developed in a range of colours and designs for a variety of uses, and they can be found in offices, schools and homes all around the world.
HEY, did you know i’m running a contest while I am away…
Firstly, here is what is up for grabs…
There are two prize packs to be won. To Enter: 1. Post a ‘review’ of one of these book excert posts, on your blog, with a link back to the relevant post on my blog. Does that make sense ? I’ll see the link or the trackback. 2. Include an email address in your post unless your whois information is correct. 3. Promise to give a review of the entire book on your blog once you have received it and read it. 4. I’ll randonly draw the 2 winners when I get back after April 18 2008. It’s that easy!  |
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September 16th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Hi, how I can send PM?