“If you keep hitting the wall, it may be time to back up and look for the door.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2016-02-02) from his book, 3 Things Successful People Do: The Road Map That Will Change Your Life (p. 117). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Is this you? Do you seem to keep hitting the same wall?

John says, “If you keep hitting the wall, it may be time to back up and look for the door. If you keep taking the same detour, maybe it’s not a detour but your main road. However, when you experience failure after failure but your dream burns within you just as strongly as ever, keep going. Also recognize that some of the greatest accomplishments of life literally were birthed out of failure.”

He then says, “For example, look at the life of John James Audubon. He is considered a pioneer in wildlife study and preservation. But in the early 1800s, he was merely an unsuccessful shopkeeper in Louisville, Kentucky. He attempted to support himself and his wife, Lucy, in that occupation, but after struggling for eleven years, he finally went bankrupt. That failure prompted him to pursue his life’s work— observing, drawing, and painting wildlife, the thing for which he will always be remembered.”

John continues, “If you’re repeatedly experiencing failure but you want to fail forward, allow your mistakes to redirect you. Maybe you’re working someplace where you don’t really fit. That doesn’t mean that you’re bad or wrong. It just means that you need to make an adjustment. If one door repeatedly closes on you, don’t stand there forever wondering why you can’t get it open. Look around for another open door. One may be standing open right now that you’ve continually overlooked.”

Just a thought to think about today.

Did it help as you view what you are going through?

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