Failing Your Way Up! How Never Giving up Will Lead to Your Success!

         In the book Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland, they tell of a story of a ceramics teacher that decided to split his class into groups of. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.

His procedure was simple: on the final day of class, he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pounds of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”.

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

           In life, we are given the opportunity to churn out pots of clay that, if done intentionally and on a consistence basis, will gradually transform into a beautiful piece of artwork. The only key is the determination to never give up. Or a Dwayne Johnson says, “It’s you, versus you”.

           If it were easy to become a master at any skill, we all would be so. Thus, that is why we all find ourselves going back to the gym or school, to churn out another pot of clay to get closer to that perfected pot of art.

           It is for this reason why Michel Jordan said, “I've missed more than 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.”

           To leave you all with a charge, it would be to challenge yourselves to churn out more pots of clay in the skill you hope to grow in. If it's speaking, speak more, if it's leading, lead more meetings, is it shooting hoops, get out on the ball court more. In order to inch closer to that vision you see yourself as, you have got to do more of it; it’s the only way to get there. Resolve within yourself today, never to yield to the increasing pressures that mediocrity weighs upon you. You're too good for average.