[blockquote align=”center” cite=”Alexandre Dumas”]Nothing succeeds like success.[/blockquote]Please permit me, with great respect for one of my favorite novelists, to call bulls**t on this one. The single most effective deterrent to your being successful tomorrow is the enjoyment of success today. The problem with success is that it gives us a sense of our own brilliance. We feel good when we win and do whatever we can to repeat that feeling. But, we’re not actually brilliant. On the contrary, we too often fail to notice that tomorrow’s challenge is different and, blinded by our former success, aim yesterday’s solutions at tomorrow’s problems, failing more often than not.
[blockquote align=”center” cite=”Arianna Huffington, Inc. February 2013 (Pg 52)”]A key component of whatever successes I’ve had has been what I’ve learned from my failures.[/blockquote]In contrast to Dumas, it’s more accurate to say that success inhibits success. Huffington warns that “success generates fear” by making people afraid to take risks.
We do tend to focus on success a great deal. A quick search on the web site hashtagbattle.com finds that during the past week, “success” was used as a hashtag on 14,863 tweets, while “failure” was tagged on just 1777. 800% more tweets about #success than #failure.
[image source_type=”attachment_id” source_value=”4624″ align=”center” width=”500″ autoHeight=”true”] There’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting to succeed–an appetite for failure should be cause for concern–but consider the amazing power of failure to catalyze new ideas. Evan Williams found success in Twitter only after Odeo was obliterated when iTunes added podcasting to its line-up. The success Steve Jobs had in his second season at Apple is widely accepted to have been the result of his being fired from the company he’d created.
[blockquote align=”center” cite=”Latin – Prosperity inhibits success.”]Prosperitas vetat obscura successum[/blockquote]When you succeed, enjoy the feeling. Then, immediately look for something at which you can fail.
As a fellow strengths zealot, I’m surprised at your thesis. In fact, we know from the process of Appreciative Inquiry, a strengths and value-based model, that a focus on a peak experience or past success can move an individual or an organization forward on a more positive, productive trajectory. When we focus on where we fall short (the old “weaknesses” and “threats” of the traditional SWOT approach to problem solving), we can get stuck in that negative morass that beats us down. I see success as linked too closely to strengths not to honor and learn from that experience.
All that said, I completely agree with your points about learning from our failures. We wouldn’t have the light bulb without Thomas Edison’s persistence in the face of thousands of failures. And we wouldn’t have Michael Jordan if he didn’t focus on his strengths to overcome the many failures through his career, starting with nay-sayers who told him he didn’t have the stuff.
So, yes, tomorrow’s challenge is different but not blinded but “binded” (ok, bound) to our success. If we learn from what we’re doing well, we can do more of it and put it into practice when we fail. As long as we’ve got both processes in perspective, we’ve got an edge.
Thanks for your thought provoking post!!
Thanks Gloria.
The basis of Appreciative Inquiry is the premise of focusing on what’s right and using that knowledge to build on – or appreciate the value of – current successes. The paradox of success is that we too often forget to “appreciate” the lessons learned. Rather than building on success, we try to replicate it, and in doing so merely reinforce the status quo.
Focusing on past successes can lead to status quo thinking. “Here’s what worked. Let’s do it again.”
Just as focusing on weaknesses and threats will direct our focus in that direction, so can focusing on what worked yesterday.
My purpose in twisting the Dumas quote to read “success inhibits success” is to stress the need to break status quo thinking. Doing the same thing again and expecting a different result is foolhardy – even if the “same thing” working wonderfully well the last time.