I love documentaries and recently, I watched a very good one about how Netflix got started. In the film, they detailed how the guys who started the company almost gave up and sold their idea to another competitor. As I continued watching, both guys talked in detail about how they lost money, downsized, restructured, and reorganized all before they became a household name and international success. Despite challenges and setbacks, they stayed committed to an idea that sounded silly at the time, but was a revolutionary vision that forever changed how we watch television.
You’re probably wondering what’s the purpose of this story? Well, I thought this myself until just the other day when I found myself in the midst of a very challenging situation. Just like the Netflix guys, I had spent months and months working on a very tedious project. When I finally submitted it, I thought everything was perfect, and was I certain it would be a success. Until it wasn’t. After all my hard work, I had to restructure, reconfigure, and readdress some issues. I felt defeated and “worn out.” But just before I decided to throw in the towel, I remembered what someone told me, “you’re not a success until you fail” and then suddenly, the Netflix documentary crossed my mind. In that moment, I decided that I would take the focus off the feeling of failure, and try to figure out what I could learn from this obstacle.
What did I learn? Well, perfection is an illusion that no human being can achieve and the Bible makes it clear that God expects us to make mistakes. In Proverbs 24:16 (NIV), it says “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.” Let’s linger on this point. The righteous or in other words, those who are in right standing with God, believe it or not, mess up and make mistakes. But what makes them different is that they use their failures to develop and not define them.
So don’t beat yourself up if you’ve made a couple of mistakes. Your success in life isn’t measured by how many right or wrong things you’ve done. I’ve learned that success is about making an effort, even when you don’t feel like it. Life has shown me that success is trying again and again, even after you’ve gotten it wrong. True success is falling down seven times but getting back up to try again, despite having a bloody nose, scarred knees, and bruised ego. Mistakes don’t define you, get back up and figure out a better way to make these failures count.
