Failure Is Part of Success: Eduardo Zanatta at TEDxBYU

I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career I've lost almost 300 games 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed I failed over and over and over again in my life [Music] and that is why I succeed 9,000 missed shots we has failed before more than once we're here does not like failing well no no buzzword gets more attention or is more widely desired than the word success people are spending hours months years in the search for Success the reality is not all achieve it or at least not all persist long enough to achieve it because of one fundamental element of success failure all of you has ra raised your hands all of you have failed before I have failed many times before and that is a fundamental part of success the question then is which one is greater my desire to succeed or my fear to fail I wish to discuss three principles today that if applied will impact Our Lives now and forever number one don't quit too early most obstacles we Face are here to test our character not to stop us who here has heard of NCAA coach John Wooden before John wooden's perhaps the greatest college basketball coach in the history of the world he has won 12 championships 11 of which were consecutive titles the true personification of success both on and off the court but most people don't spend any time trying to understand what happened to John Wooden in his career before all that success he went 16 years without winning anything now think about that 16 years and no titles then 12 years and 11 titles many people would call phase one of his career a failure but he called it preparation a common excuse that I think all of you will be able to relate to that we often use is when something goes wrong is well it didn't work out thus it's just not meant to be right and we usually stop right there but that's not how life works most of the time I remember learning a lesson from a professor in California he said get in line and stay in line don't quit too early number two there's no such thing as failure if you learned a lesson and gave your best you succeeded have you thought of that before because we usually measure failure or success by the out outcome not by the effort but if you've given your best you succeeded Robert kosaki put it well when he said sometimes we win sometimes we learn and we usually when we win we tend to party right but when we lose we tend to ponder I have a professor at BYU who has taught me a principle that at first sound very uncomfortable he said and I hope my boss is not here to to hear this he said Eduardo go out there get a job get paid to make mistakes and then go do your own thing right so in his perspective failure is a vehicle a friend not an enemy it's a Connecting Point leading us to success in other words the faster I failed the faster I learn the faster I learn the faster I succeed so maybe the lesson here is grow and fail as as fast as you can just don't quote me on this right just last year during the recruiting season I was trying to find an internship it's a big battle finding an internship I had 16 interviews locked in I was sure I was going to get an offer but after all those 16 interviews I got no offers I was frustrated and super discouraged but then my father who is in the audience today was wise enough to come up to me and lift my vision said son you've lost a few battles but the war is still on this is part of the process all the 16 interviews are going to help you find what's best for you just keep giving your best effort two days later I had my 17th interview and got the offer there's no such thing as failure number three the past does not equal the future who here has been rejected by a girl or a guy before and if you don't raise your hands I'm calling you a liar well there a lot of people have not raised their hands I'm surprised I'll raise both well all of us have but the tragedy of this experience is not the experience itself it's the meaning that we usually take home with us because I was rejected then I'll be rejected again the past will equal the future perfect formula for misery the past does not equal the Future Tony Robbins one of the greatest teachers that I know has taught this principle in a marvelous way he said and if you're going to take anything home from my talk take this principle the only thing that keeps us from getting what we want is the story we keep telling ourselves about why we can't have it the only thing that keeps us from from getting what we want is the story we keep telling ourselves about why we can't have it reality is now is our reality we can create our own story we're all great storytellers we have a blank page in front of us every day to create a story based on our now truth not our on our past truth I hope this three principles have been beneficial to you today don't quit too early there's no such thing as failure the past does not equal the future and next time when you're facing challenges all of us which will surely come to test our character may we remember the words of Michael Jordan greatest basketball player of all history I failed over and over and over in my life that's why I succeed thank [Applause] you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 461,351

Keywords: brigham young university, byu, good line, innovation, ted, 2012, ballard center, ted talks, ted x, eduardo zanatta, tedx, ted talk, tedx talk, tedx talks, foundations for good, peery foundation

Id: bujIb_sQZvQ

Length: 6min 54sec (414 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 30 2012