I will not fail.

“I will not fail.” This thought just came to me recently and it flows from my recent post about building and maintaining “Forever Customers.” Then, I found this meme which says it all.  The point is, you have to go into every opportunity and be able to say to your customer, in one way or another, “I will not fail.”

To fail means to be unsuccessful in achieving one’s goal.  I would add that to be a failure is to then give up.  Last year, the Business Insider listed 29 famous people who failed before they succeeded.  I have listed several below to prove my point.  You will read that these celebrities failed many times, but they were not failures.

Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star because his editor felt he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”  Several more of his businesses failed before the premiere of his movie “Snow White.” He went onto become the guy who redefined American childhood.

Oprah Winfrey was publicly fired from her first television job as an anchor in Baltimore for getting “too emotionally invested in her stories.” But Winfrey rebounded and became the undisputed queen of television talk shows before amassing a media empire. Today she is worth a cool $3 billion, according to Forbes.

In one of Fred Astaire’s first screen tests, an executive wrote: “Can’t sing. Can’t act. Slightly balding. Can dance a little.” Astaire went on to become a Hollywood and Broadway legend.

J.K. Rowling was a single mom living off welfare when she began writing the first “Harry Potter” novel. Rowling is now internationally renowned for her seven-book Harry Potter series and, in US currency, became the first billionaire author in 2004.

After Harrison Ford’s first small movie role, an executive took him into his office and told him he’d never succeed in the movie business. Ford’s career went on to span six decades, and has included timeless starring roles in blockbuster films like the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” series.

Now back to you. The reality is that you will make some sort of mistake in the process of fulfilling your customers’ expectations or even your own expectations. This is where your core muscle kicks in and you have to recall those words, I will not fail, and own up to them.  It’s what will save you.  “Save me?” Yes, save you when you have to change a deadline for that product to arrive or alter the solution you are providing.  Things happen and you will come to this cross road at some point. Why don’t you put on your game face and have a perspective that denotes resolve?  “You don’t have anything to worry about because remember what I promised at the beginning when you hired me? I will not fail, and my position has never been stronger as I will do just as I said.”

Tony’s Tip: Don’t fake this because people know when you are not telling the truth. If you have a conscience, it will destroy you in then end.

Live with success this day!