Everyone has experienced some form of failure in their lives, but it is how we perceive that failure to be which determines how quickly it will lead them to their success.
In college I strived to be the best student I could be, studying at all hours of the night, applying to internships at investment banking firms so I could get that 'great job' my parents so wanted me to have.
As a senior one of the last mandatory courses I needed to complete was a public speaking class. I was deathly afraid of speaking in front of two people much less an audience of 50. Stumbling on my words, fidgeting beyond recognition, I got through my first speech. I also failed miserably.
Through this experience I never felt like a failure. It was a stepping stone of what was to be. In 2004 we joined a company that was looking for public speakers. Immediately I looked online and found Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking
by Nick Morgan. For the first few months I'd read the messages over and over again, almost reciting them in my sleep. I watched as my mentor dazzled his audience with jokes and a dose of reality. "I'm going to be speaker one day. A good speaker," I thought to myself.Then, six months later a mentor coerced me to present to a room filled with 30 people, and I panicked, as if my speech in public speaking class had repeated itself once again. I took a deep breath, walked into the presentation room and gave that speech. After some practice, it then led to speeches to audiences of 100, 500, even 1,000 people.
You see, we all can experience failure. But we also have the choice to succeed.
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