Don’t let perfection get in the way of being good. No one is perfect. But it takes time to even get close to that unrealistic goal. Learning from mistakes is major asset for success. Either your mistakes or the mishaps of another, there is always a message behind the madness. One of my life’s goals is to not make the same mistake twice. When you have sight of the good and the bad side of a situation, it would be logical to choose good. But it takes experience to in failure to have that understanding.

Life is a constant struggle and a constant learning process. Inexperience will get the better of you. But the more you try, the more you learn, the better you become at something. Some of life’s most important skills, cannot acquired through a formal education. Repetitive trial and error will make you a master. Those who are willing to error are willing to succeed. Fear gets you no where. The future belongs to those willing to take action.

Who is considered a disaster? Risk takers are one group of people to fit that term. However, risk takers are also masters. The cliche that is heard at college commencement speeches,’Don’t be afraid to fail.’ ‘If you are going to fall, fall forward,’ can’t be said enough. Too many people never reach their full potential cause they are afraid to achieve it.

Sandy Koufax, the great Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, struggled mightily his first half of his career. He was on the brink of quitting and moving on with his life. But he took one last shot at it. He got himself into better shape that off season. In Spring Training of 1961, with the help of his pitching coach and catcher, Koufax made some adjustments, and he figured it out. The rest of his career was dominate as he is now known as Sandy Koufax, Baseball Hall of Famer.

Many people that I know from my younger years who were constantly in trouble with school, their families, the law and other establishments, are now successful people. They have very good jobs, they have families, and they are kind hearted. And I look back 10-20 years ago when parents, teachers, and coaches said how those kids would never amount to anything in life. And now look at them. Maybe the hard talk from their superiors motivated them. Maybe they learned from their mistakes and put it all together. Maybe they found a mentor in their life that lead them in the right direction. Or they had one extremely serious incident in life that scared them straight. Whatever the reason may be, they can use their past as a learning experience. They have been to the bottom at some point and they found a way to climb to the top. Granted, not everyone turns their life around, but these masters succeeded on sheer will.

Many people struggle because they are afraid to try. Unfortunately, we live in a society today which has the mentality that we have to be perfect from beginning to end. Masterpieces take a lifetime to create. It took Leonardo Da Vinci 6 years to paint the Mona Lisa. 8 years for Beethoven to write his Symphony #9 as he was completely deaf. Noah Webster took 27 years to write the Webster’s American Dictionary for the English Language. General George Washington lost more battles than he won during the American Revolution. But he did not stop until independence was achieved. To go from disaster to master, you will lose some battles, on your way to winning the war. Success is worth earning. It’s worth the fight and the sacrifice. When people have had a taste of success, they want more. If they understand that it will be a struggle to achieve it again, that makes them a leader. Everyone deserves success, but they are not entitled to it.

Brad Kirsch