Attitude is Everything: Lesson 11 Review

Lesson 11: Get Out There And Fail

Reviewed By: Godfrey Shirima

According to the all knowing ‘google’, fail /feɪl/ is defined as 1. Be unsuccessful in achieving one’s goal and 2. Neglect to do something. I am more interested with the 1st definition, not to be able to achieve a goal, objective, mission, target, well! Feel free to add more relevant words to expound the meaning of fail. In one of his best works, Jeff Keller, blessed us with 12 lessons to feed our brains and uplift our fragile attitudes. Get Out There and Fail is the one lesson that touched me to the core.

When growing up, the word ‘fail’ to me was strongly linked to academics. I was doing alright with my studies from primary school to secondary. My first taste of failing was when I wasn’t selected for public school after standard 7 national examination. I remember vividly, from Mugabe Primary School, 16 pupils selected (passed) out of 200+ and no Godfrey Shirima wasn’t one of them despite being the usual top 10 students for the previous 2 years including the very last exam before the nationals.

I tell you for a fact, nothing is as painful as failing to achieve a goal and especially when that goal solidifies your personality. It was a shocker, total devastation. Well! I have a fair share of failing after that in my academic journey and probably I will fail even more until I resign the whole studying business.

Jeff Keller in his book cited a couple of compelling examples, from TV Talk Show Host Sally Jessy Raphael for her more than 26 years of failure to the G.O.A.T Michael Jordan. Being a fan of basketball wishes to highlight even more on this legendary story.

“I’ve missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

― Michael Jordan

Talking about the game-winning shots, how crucial they are! Not to mention 300 games lost. He was entrusted by teammates, coach, management without forgetting fans to take all those shots. Did it stop him from attempting to score once more? Nope! Did failure conquer him? I don’t think so! In case you don’t know, in my opinion, He is the reason why Basketball is what it is now, Jordan single-handedly introduced basketball to the world.

Enough about these athletes examples, what about us ordinary Joe’s? Jeff Keller gave us 5 questions to ask ourselves whenever we don’t get the results we want. I will just cover 3 out of those 5 questions.

Qn 1. Do I have an unrealistic timetable? Many people nowadays are so impatient with themselves and their goals. Get rich quick schemes are everywhere, thirst for trending on social media, driving a nicest car and owning a magnificent house. Those are just a few of the goals ordinary folks have and we tend to forget the most important factor ‘TIME’. The author said, be patient with yourself -- and resist the temptation to compare your progress with that of anyone else! Join me with my all time life motto of ‘1 Step at a Time’, have a realistic timetable, trust the process, failure shouldn’t scare you and it will be just a matter of TIME for you to achieve what you heart desires.

Qn 2. Am I truly committed? Being committed to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal and failure will be the last thing in your worrying list. I have a caveat though! Jeff Keller said it’s much easier to be committed when you love what you’re doing. I have mixed feelings about that statement and it is subject to debate, I believe loving what you are doing isn’t the only recipe, I think you need knowledge, skills and grit on top of loving what you do to succeed.

Qn 5. Am I truly willing to fail? This is a very important question. I tasted failure when i finished standard 7, that might not sound as impactful but picture this tiny boy, sees himself as not dumbest in the class and with smartness level a little shy from being genius, ‘Failing’ to make a cut on the list of selected (passed) students. I was naive back then, not willing to fail at all. Learnt my lesson the hard way.

Here I am, during 2018, a masters student desperately looking for jobs. I have never faced rejections/failures in my life as I did back in 2018. The number of job applications made where over 100, lots and looooots of rejections emails, countless interviews, oooh! Near misses! Those almost got a job (4 occasions), not forgetting the silent treatments from the companies that were too busy not to respond whether they liked my profile or not. At the end of the day,

“Failure will never overtake me, if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”

― Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman In The World

To conclude my chapter review, Attitude is Everything is a great book for the soul, a daily dosage of this book’s lessons will steer your life journey to a very positive experience. Often than not, people (me, included) might have a bitter taste towards motivational speakers and self-help in general. However, what they often tell us or portray in their work is not rocket science, not a miraculous revelation but we equally needed that for our own good. I highly recommend the book to anyone out there, it is short and clear, with lots and loooots of quotes :).

As I penned down ‘’actually typing :)’’ my final thoughts of the book, I couldn’t agree more with the author that Yes! ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING.