A Guaranteed Guide for Failure (or Success)

Looking for a guaranteed plan to assure your own failure? Here is the secret to un-success (not to be confused with my Secret To Success)

1. Say yes to every interesting prospect that comes in front of you. Take little or no time to assess the long term sustainability, scalability, or profitability. Don’t bother to ask how it fits in with your other projects, or your goals, or even your skills. Success isn’t the goal: just saying yes is!
2. Pursue every passion you are interested in. No need to prioritize, see one project to completion before starting another, or asses your availability and ability to handle the extra work. Starting something you care about is all that matters here, failure is not even an option.
3. Work on something because you are good at it. Who cares if you are interested in it, if it will fulfill you, or if it fits into a larger plan? If you are good at, do it. No questions at asked.

After you complete steps 1 – 3, you’re well on your way to success failure. Want to aim for success instead of failure?

1. Articulate your dreams and desires. You may not be able to realize them RIGHT NOW, knowing what they are will be helpful in the long run though. Need a place to start? Make a list of your dreams.
2. Fully assess each opportunity: What benefits will you receive? What will you necessarily turn down by selecting this? Are you capable? Are you interested? How will this prepare you for the next step? Do you need this? You may determine that you need to take “less than ideal” projects or opportunities for survival or practicality or any number of reasons. Or you may decide to pass. Separate the quality from the fluff here, make sure you know what you are getting into and why.
3. Learn how to say “no” and “not quite yet.” At this moment I can think of at least seven projects I am really excited about. Want to know how I can guarantee they will all fail wonderfully miserably? Work on them all at once. Believe me, I tried it. When you’ve made a list of your own priorities and assessed each opportunity for what it has to offer, it becomes easier to say “yes”, “no”, and “later” to the opportunities in your life.

So there you go! Your superstar guide to failure (and hopefully success). What will you say “yes” to today? What needs to be put on hold for awhile? And what is exciting but not right for you?

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