DREWspective

I wanted to share this quote, posted by a YouTube user named DigBreamer:

Deep, eh?

The truth is that failure is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, failure is one of the most important things we can have, as people who are constantly developing.

Yet, the act of failing is stigmatised beyond proportion. You only have to look at television, movies or even the outside world to see how we - as people - have turned the idea of failure into something humiliating and negative.

One thing I particularly dislike is on game shows, where the winning person/team goes on to win even more prizes, while the "losers" go home with less, or in some cases nothing at all.
And how about these so-called "reality shows", where - even if everybody performs exceptionally well - anyone who doesn’t win is branded a loser. As much as I love Hell’s Kitchen USA, I get irritated by the idea that the losing team in a challenge has to have a "punishment".

Failure on any level is seen as a fault or a weakness by society. If you’re at a club and someone doesn’t find you attractive, in their eyes you’ve "failed" to meet their expectations. If you turn up at an event as anything less than happy, people around you think you’ve "failed" to share everybody’s mood.

Apparently we like to hear about other people’s failures in the media (in the UK, anyway), because we don’t like the fact that some people have succeeded and we haven’t reached their level.

As a growing prodigy, there have been many times in my life where I’ve been laughed at, ridiculed and made an example of just because I did something wrong, or made a mistake. Unforgivable things have been done to me just because I didn’t get things right first time, or all the time. I’m sure you’ve been through similar circumstances, because at some point everybody gets laughed at.

Even more prominent in today’s world is the idea that you have to succeed first time, or you’re a failure and you’ll never succeed.
This is a horrible belief. As many famous and accomplished people would attest, we hear an awful lot about their successes and achievements, but not nearly as much about their failures. For example, Babe Ruth struck out almost twice as many times as he made home runs. Michael Jordan missed several game-winning points. Walt Disney failed to meet anyone’s approval for his Disneyworld idea around 100 times. But these facts aren’t widely talked about. This gives us the false impression that success came to them in an instant, with little to no hard work.

Ultimately we have to remember that failure is an important part of life, no matter how everyone else reacts. Failure - when learned from - can help make you stronger and wiser. Without failure, we can never learn from or appreciate anything.

And there’s no need to worry about failing either, even though it’s incredibly scary and you’re frightened of the reaction you’ll get. As I’ve experienced time and time again, being afraid of failure (or what happens if you fail) only makes you more prone to failing.

It’s not easy to accept that something didn’t go the way you’d planned, and even less so when people are laughing at you and pointing fingers. Take heart, though, that every one of these so-called failures is a stepping stone. Keep trying, and you’ll eventually reach your goal.

When you fall, get up before someone kicks you.

Drew Maughan

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

– Frank Outlaw

Just out of curiosity, I’ve just done a sweeping search for DREWspective using the search term "drew weblog". Just skimming through the results, I came across what looked like a review for this weblog!

Going by the fragment of text I saw, and a feeling of deja vu, I was far too scared to read futher.

It got me thinking about the whole writing a weblog thing, and the whole expressing yourself thing. It’s not as easy as it looks to maintain a weblog, especially if it’s personal in nature and you want to get to the top of whatever list. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t say anything you like; even if nobody comments on your weblog, there will always be someone watching what you say.

I remember full well the first time I tried to maintain a weblog, and that was a horror I’m determined never to go back to (I got into a little trouble for expressing myself, if you get my drift).  I have gone off on one a couple of times on this weblog, but for the most part the content is toned down from before; I don’t talk about sex or violence nearly as much and as far as I know, I haven’t made a single comment that could be construed as racist.

That doesn’t stop me worrying about the odd review coming up, however.  I suppose when it comes to being evaluated I have a very thin skin; I’m always afraid that I’d be brought up on something that I’d let slip, or that what I’m doing is completely wrong. Feedback of any kind scares me, even if I invite it.

I remember Jim Rohn saying in one of his recordings that language was extremely important in business; that bad language was perfectly acceptable to those who use bad language, but good language is almost never offensive.
As I’m committed to make a name for myself, and at the same time worried about having a bad reputation, I feel I should start being very careful about what I write from now on.  I don’t want your average, callous person knowing too much about my personal life.  On the other hand, I am a very emotional, somewhat "furious" person who has to get things off their chest, so I argue that I should be able to do so.

I just hope that not too many of you have been offended by some of the content here, and I will try to keep the tone as "professional" as possible in future.

When someone rejects you based on what you look like, what they’re really saying is, "I’m so boring and shallow that I’m scared of what other people might think".