Focusing on Your Successes

Quote for the Week

"The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me."

– Ayn Rand

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From the Skybox

Reflecting on your successes and failures is an important exercise for personal growth and development, as well as for organizations.?

By examining what worked and what didn't, you can learn valuable lessons that can help you improve your strategies and decision-making processes in the future.

One way to approach this analysis is to take into account survivorship bias, which is the tendency to focus on the successes rather than the failures.

My father in law was recently telling about a story from World War II on a program he had watched. He is a big WWII history junkie and watches lots of programs and movies on that war.

He was telling me about the airplanes and the research on survivorship bias that was done by Abraham Wald in WWII.?

Wald and the Statistical Research Group at Columbia University, looked at the bullet holes in the returning airplanes to determine where to reinforce the planes.?

Instead of focusing on the areas that were already damaged, they focused on the areas that were unscathed, which allowed them to infer that those were the areas that were most vulnerable to enemy fire and needed reinforcement.

Previously they were reinforcing the areas that came back with bullet holes. This did not increase the number of planes returning.?

In your own life and organization, it's important to be aware of survivorship bias and to actively seek out and analyze both your successes and failures. By doing so, you can gain a more complete understanding of what worked and what didn't and you can use this information to make more informed decisions in the future.

For example, if you only focus on your successes, you may not realize that you're overlooking important weaknesses or vulnerabilities in your strategies or processes.?

By analyzing your failures, you can identify these areas and work to improve them, ultimately increasing your chances of success in the long run.

Furthermore, reflecting on your successes and failures can help us cultivate a growth mindset, which is the belief that our abilities and intelligence can be developed through hard work and dedication.?

When you approach your failures as opportunities for learning and growth, you become more resilient and better equipped to handle challenges in the future.?

By acknowledging your successes and failures and using this information to inform your actions, you can become more effective and successful in your personal and professional life.

I have found that when you want to find what works, focus on success. If you want a successful business study successful businesses. If you want a successful marriage study successful marriages. Success leaves clues.

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This Week’s Podcast Episode

Focusing on Your Successes

https://www.theascentperformancegroup.com/focusing-on-your-successes/

?(You can also listen on your favorite podcast app)

Be Audacious!

Coach Jeff Garrett