Jack’s Winning Words 4/7/16
“Failure is success if we learn from it.”  (Malcolm Forbes)  Matthew Syed’s book, Black Box Thinking, received mixed reviews, but the basic premise is true…we can learn from our mistakes.  That’s why airplanes (and even cars) carry “black boxes.”  An examination of our screw-ups can help prevent recurrences.  It can happen in the home, at work, in school.  Lincoln lost 5 elections, but then he was elected President.  “Never ever, ever give up!”    ;-)  Jack

FROM HONEST JOHN:  Failure is failure....if we learn from it, we might go on to a future success.   I never rejoice in failure.   I do try to learn from it.   Those are two different steps.====JACK:  An "F" is just someone's opinion.  Has Obama been a failure as a President?  History will tell, except that the writers of  history are not infallible.  Were you a success or a failure in your work?

FROM TARMART REV:  For certain . . . going out again today to face whatever comes my way with "certainty"!!====JACK:  How do you spell certainly the way the Three Stooges pronounce it? There appear to be two schools of thought: One spells it "soitenly," the other "soitainly."  Another editor suggests, "soytenly," and another writes, "soy-tan-lee." It's a tough world out there!  As a Stooges fan, I go with soytenly.

FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  Which do we remember the most, successes or failures?====JACK:  Personally, I tend to remember the successes.  I think that a difference between the optimist and the pessimist.  Don't you remember the crucial bb shots that you made more than the ones you missed?  It's called, sublimation.

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  more good words for today, Jack.   thanks... ====JACK:  I like the descriptive phrase, Black Box Thinking.

FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Richard Nixon lost an election too, but he hung in there, and after some contentious years, he eventually transformed enough to get elected President.  To his discredit he just couldn't rise to the occasion and serve honorably.  Evidently he didn't learn from his previous mistakes.====JACK:  Politicians seem to be unfazed by negativity.  Maybe it's their public persona.  Inwardly, it must eat at them...they're human.

FROM IKE AT THE MIC:  That's perfect! & why we should change our current saying in our Optimist creed from "FORGET " the mistakes of the past or to "LEARN" from our mistakes. ====JACK:  There's a lesson in both ways (to forget mistakes and to learn from them)...the present and your proposal.  Even though "The Ten" were written in stone, there has been a rewording of them through the years.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Yes, as British novelist Phyllis Bottoms has said, "There is nothing final about a mistake, except it being taken as final."  And Nixon famously said, "you're not finished when you're defeated, you're finished when you quit". Which he eventually had to do. Michael Jordan said he failed over and over and over again; that's why he succeeded!  So, since we all make mistakes, hopefully we are the wiser for that...no one likes to fail, but we all experience failure in our lifetime. We don't need to dwell on it; Go on and make a better future!  Malcolm Forbes has good words today. Thanks!====JACK:  Everything is a learning experience...except, "You don't learn anything from the second kick of a mule."