I Saw, I Tried, I Failed

How often do we see an online course or software that is promised to help us make money online faster, easier, and free? Free, of course, is AFTER WE BOUGHT the magic promises.

WHY?

Yep, I bought many. I tried what they advised. I did not get the results.

– WHY did I buy? Much of it is the curiosity for me. I am a perpetual student who is easily distracted by shiny object syndrome.

– WHY bother spending the time? Again, it is curiosity. But, a larger proportion of this answer is the belief and sense that I can make things happen if I have persistence and just follow the recipe.

– WHY the failure? Often, because I found another shiny object to distract my attention and therefore limiting the time available to my most recent previous venture. I lost the motivation to stick with it because it did not feel meaningful.

This is a common problem for many entrepreneurs who become the target audience for products and services that promise to teach you focus, time management, and productivity.

The products or services that I referenced are, most often, not a scam. They offer solutions that the authors and creators found valuable for themselves. Some are sold by the authors and creators. Many are sold by resellers who do so for an affiliate commission, whether they tried the product themselves, or not. These are solutions that were created because somebody spotted a need and they are sold by somebody who liked what they saw and thought others may like the product, use it, and gain benefit from it.

What Are the Lessons?

Regardless of the WHYs, the most important lesson is what WE, the buyer, get from it. Life Lessons!

People who we view as successful spent years learning as they tried and failed at endeavor after endeavor until they found what works for them. In nearly all cases, they found a mentor who had been in their shoes. Sometimes, the mentor taught them the steps needed to achieve their goals. Sometimes, the mentor was more of a coach who helped them develop the right mindset as the student learned from their journey. But, more often, the mentor taught them the steps as well as helping them achieve the mindset behind each step and understanding the whole, big picture.

I have learned that I need to see, try, and practice the steps along the journey toward my goals. Therefore, shiny object syndrome is not always a bad thing. After all, I am gaining wisdom. But, with that wisdom, it is important, it is essential, and it is crucial that I also gain understanding.

Without understanding, it is exceedingly difficult to sustain the motivation required to achieve meaningful success. Motivation makes it is easier to sustain habits for progress. Sustaining habits for progress leads to positive results. Positive results create hunger for more wisdom and understanding.

The Right Thing

I recently read a Charlie Brown cartoon that illustrates my point. You know “Good ol’ Charlie Brown”, the central, happy-go-lucky Peanuts comic strip character who never gets a break in life. In this particular comic strip, Charlie Brown asks Lucy for her 5 cents Psychiatric Help by asking how he can know if he is doing the right thing. Lucy responds by telling him that he is doing the right thing and Charlie Brown happily pays her 5 cents.

Later, he returns and tells Lucy that he was wrong. It didn’t help him. He goes on to say “You need more in life than just having someone around to tell you when you’re doing the right thing”.

These are powerful words. Charlie Brown is perhaps the most famous fictional character with whom we can identify the phrase “I saw, I did, I failed”. In this particular comic, he conveys a valuable lesson. The lesson is that understanding exists within us.

Like Charlie Brown, we keep trying and learning. The difference between him and us is that we can rise to a level of meaningful success. The Peanuts comic strip will continue to portray Charlie Brown’s struggles because that is the persona, that is the brand with which he is portrayed. We have the wisdom to know that our persona must change for us to break through to meaningful success. We can develop the understanding to redefine our brand to that of meaningful success.

Where are you on your journey? Are you paying, paying, paying, and wondering if you are doing the right thing? Do you see, try, and fail? Or, are you gaining on the understanding that you need more in life than just having a cheerleader telling you that you are doing the right thing?

Failure is Learning

I have often had the same questions. I still do. But, the process of understanding is having a positive impact. I no longer fail. I experience learning processes that I apply to the next endeavor on my journey toward meaningful success. Oddly, these “learning experiences” feel like mini-successes. They feel like meaningful successes. But, only if they move me toward my goals. And, I am doing a much better job of assessing ahead of time whether an expenditure of time and money will move me toward my goals. And, I feel good about that! I feel like I have banished failure and I am enjoying meaningful success.

How do you feel about your journey?

If online marketing is a skill of interest to you, especially if your life’s goal is to achieve financial success even faster, watch my mentor John Thornhill reveal his proven system for achieving meaningful success for yourself and your online business. John and his sidekick, Randolf Smith, are not only skilled teachers about the steps and nuances for success at online marketing, but they are also masters at helping their members plumb the depths of “why” things need to be done a certain way and “why” alternatives are a path to dead ends.

Click here to gain perspective from his free webinar

This is a guest post from Daniel Kapellen, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.