“Your card declined due to insufficient funds.”
😳
When the person processing my payment said those words, I felt surprised, embarrassed, ashamed, and full of dread all at once.
Kevin Hart came to mind. 😅
Then I moved money from my savings to my checking.
I’m grateful to have the bills paid — but hearing the state of my finances announced aloud in the checkout line didn’t sound like financial freedom.
Even when I’m ahead, I know, Lord willing, those bills will be back to visit my mailbox and bank account again.
The real problem isn’t the bill itself.
It’s forgetting all the ways God has provided for me in the past and not being open to how He might be now and in the future.
The Boat, the Helicopter, and the Rescue Team
Have you heard the story about a man that was trapped on a roof during a flood?
He prayed earnestly,
“God, please save me!”
Soon, a boat came by.
The man said, “No thanks, I’m waiting for God to save me.”
Then a helicopter came.
He said again, “No thanks, I’m waiting for God.”
Finally, another rescue team arrived — and he still refused.
Eventually, the man died.
When he met God, he asked,
“Lord, why didn’t you save me?”
God replied,
“I sent you a boat, a helicopter, and a rescue team. What more were you waiting for?”
___
The lesson is to open our eyes to the opportunities that are available to us.
Every choice we make will result in new information we can use to make the next right decision, one by one.
Everything you’re doing might seem like another way you’re failing — but it's also feedback.
The only way to truly fail is to quit altogether.
Doing nothing will get you nowhere 100% of the time.
That next action you take could be the domino that really gets things moving.
So it's time to use the failure like it's telling you the exact thing you need to do next.
If you find yourself with nothing, no one, and no way forward, remember to pay attention to the C.O.S.T.
Power Acronym 196: C.O.S.T. — Companion Of Successful Thinking
Failure is the companion of successful thinking because it helps us gain a specific understanding of what winning looks like.
When Michelangelo was asked how he carved David, he’s said to have replied,
“I just removed everything that wasn’t David.”
He probably said it differently than that, but here's the point:
Success isn’t about having all the good all the time. Often, it’s about removing most of the bad most of the time.
On the road to success, failure is along for the ride. Learn to engage with it.
Failure is Feedback.
My card declining told me I need to pay more attention to my bank account more often.
The man on the roof who denied the boat, helicopter, and rescue team didn't want to hear his answered prayer.
Failure may cost you something, but it's your Companion Of Successful Thinking. That's the price you pay for progress.
Failure is Feedback when:
It creates awareness of failures or inefficiencies.
We accept reality and responsibility.
We implement action plans that create new pathways toward a better future.
Failure is Feedback. And feedback is fuel for growth.
Part 4 of the Failing Forward series. Read more via the links below:
Foundational → Fuel → Fortune → Feedback → Focus → Freedom