Failure is part of risk taking. It’s one side of the risk vs. reward equation. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I spent too much of my life being fearful of failure. Here are some of the things I have learned.

There are no permanent failures. When our overly optimistic attempts “fail” it is a signal lesson to break it down into more bite size chunks. Make the attempts more granular until they are doable and sustainable on a consistent basis. Break it down so that the micro goal is feasible and coherent with your long-term ambition. If the deliverable is small enough it will have a high probability of success. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Form a detailed guess of what you expect to happen. Measure the actual result against what you guessed. If you don’t get the result you were expecting or run into an obstacle, course correct and try again. Learning what doesn’t work is a critical part of learning what does work.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

Thomas A. Edison

Little failures aren’t permanent if you continue trying different ways. It’s part of the learning process.

Develop stamina. This process is a marathon not a sprint. Long-term consistency beats short-term intensity. We need to cultivate patience. Impatience is our enemy. We have a tendency to over estimate what we can achieve in a year, and under estimate what we can achieve in a decade. This tendency hurts us because we tend to give up too soon. Don’t give up. Our long-term plans will be implemented day by day, executed over decades. Decades are the time scale to plan on.

We aren’t naturally equipped to think in such long timeframes. This is the perspective we need if we want to achieve audacious goals.

Check out this quote from John Adams. He was one of the founders of the United States. He had a long-term perspective to what motivated him and what he felt compelled to do.

“I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” — John Adams

His son was John Quincy Adams, who also became president.

Time is Money

Decades are the frame of reference required to create real and lasting wealth for our families, our future generations and ourselves.

Our relationship to money affects all aspects of our lives. If you could achieve financial freedom what would that mean for your happiness, sense of security, self worth, and excitement and engagement in all areas of you life?

Besides your own security and well being why do you want to be rich? Would you like to help others? To help others you need financial stability and resources. You can’t pour from an empty glass.

England’s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money too.”

Take small steps by spending less than you make, paying off high interest debt, saving, and investing. These are the key steps to getting rich carefully.

The key is to start. “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” The first step is the key. After that it’s a matter of putting one foot in front of the other and knowing where you want to go.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.“

- Mark Twain

Get started and don’t give up. Keep the steps small enough that they are feasible and doable in a short time frame. Limit the variables so each step is measurable and easy to refine and course correct. Little things add up.

Here is another famous quote that reminds us that what seem like unimportant actions, or omissions, can have great and unintended consequences. Start small but start now.

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

― Benjamin Franklin

Pay attention to the seemingly little things you do. Little things add up. How you do anything is how you do everything.

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