I had a brilliant conversation yesterday with Tyson, my 16-year-old son. We talked about success and the different definitions of success that some of his friends have – material wealth, achieving goals, that sort of thing.
None of it was wrong, necessarily. But, when I asked Tyson what his definition of success is, he simply said, “resilience and persistence”.
Can I tell you, there’s so much wisdom in that simple statement.
You see, we can measure success in many ways. The problem is that the usual definitions of success – cars, houses, prestige, blah blah blah – almost suggest an end state or a “destination”.
Whereas Tyson’s definition suggests something far more profound.
The really cool thing is that Tyson’s definition is remarkably close to mine. Because for me, being successful is as simple – and as difficult – as getting back up after a fall.
I’m sure you’d agree that there’s not a single person anywhere in the world who has achieved something significant without also falling over, making mistakes, screwing up, and blowing it big time.
Being successful is as simple - and as difficult - as getting back up after a fall. Share on XI have, and I’m sure you have. But that doesn’t make any of us a failure.
Why?
Because it’s only when we stay down, when we don’t get back up after a fall, that we can rightly claim to have failed.