It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.

Failure is not the opposite of winning; it is part of the learning process.

You’ve probably experienced that moment of gratitude for an event in your life that you originally perceived as negative — failing that exam, losing your job, ending a long-term relationship. And when you’re able to appreciate and own your failures, you’re able to learn and grow from them.

That’s when the magic happens. Because no longer will you fear your failures; you’ll be able to use them as stones and guides that pave your way to success.

Many quotes by Denis Waitley have to do with being dealing with failure and putting yourself in a winner’s mindset; there is great reason for this.

Denis Waitley, the man who’s coached Olympians, Astronauts, and Fortune 500 executives.

Thanks for your Wisdom Denis Waitley

The 64-year-old investor, serial entrepreneur and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks says the strategy helped him accumulate his own wealth — a net worth of $4.6 billion, according to Forbes. He recently broke down his rules for GQ, noting that while they’re meant to help you earn cash, they’re really about being able to “control your own destiny.”

“If you want to be a millionaire, you can do it, but there’s a couple things you have to be able to accomplish,” Cuban said.

1. His first rule: “Find something you can be good at. Then, be great at it.”

To do that, you’ll probably need to study your subject relentlessly. Counterintuitively, you may also need to “cross-train” your brain by studying other topics of interest, too. Research published by the Association for Psychological Science last year noted that what separates Nobel Prize winners from national-level winners is often multidisciplinary experience.

Similarly, the research found that competitive athletes had “greater sustainability of long-term excellence” if they played more than one sport as a child. Those athletes didn’t immediately excel at their preferred sport, but showed a more consistent route to eventual mastery over time, the authors added.

2. Cuban’s second rule is “know how to sell.” His own sales career started early: At age 12, he sold trash bags door-to-door to earn money for new sneakers, he said.

The billionaire has previously given out advice on how to succeed at sales — by showing people how you can help them in the first couple of seconds of your pitch.

“Selling isn’t about convincing, it’s about helping,” Cuban told the School of Hard Knocks in a TikTok. “When you understand what people need and want, you put yourself in a position to help them,” he said. “Then you make good things happen, close deals and that’s how you create companies.”

3. The third rule: “Be curious and always learning,” Cuban said.

Having a “lifetime learning mentality” correlates with both objective and subjective success — from the number of promotions you get to how happy you are in your job — according to a 2020 study from University of Waterloo finance and education researchers.

Lifelong learners can even save their employers money in the long run, study co-author Judene Pretti told UWaterloo’s “Alumni Know” podcastin April.

“As technology continues to move at the rapid pace it is, employers need their employees to … undertake learning and development to stay on top of what the latest technologies are,” Pretti said. “It isn’t a matter of needing to replace workforce. Instead, develop and grow the existing workforce.”

4. Lastly, Cuban’s fourth rule is his longest — and perhaps his most important, especially for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“When you walk into a room, you [need to] know your s–t better than anyone else in the room,” he said. “That’s when it’s time to start a company. Then, you can start to control your own destiny.”

Knowledge, of course, doesn’t guarantee success. Before Cuban started his first company, he quit or was fired from three consecutive jobs and slept on the floor of a three-bedroom apartment he shared with five roommates, he wrote in Forbes in 2013.

He touched on a similar subject in his 2011 book “How to Win at the Sport of Business,” writing that it “doesn’t matter how many times” you fail. “You only have to be right once” to be “set for life,” he added.

That lesson may be why Cuban seems confident enough in his four rules to stake his own livelihood on it. Even if he lost everything, he’d build himself back into a millionaire again, he told NPR’s “How I Built This” podcast in 2016.

“I would get a job as a bartender at night, and a sales job during the day, and I would start working,” Cuban said. Could I become a multi-millionaire again? I have no doubt.”

Thanks for your Wisdom Megan Sauer

If you’re thinking of changing careers in 2022, here’s what you need to know.

Picture by Mary Taylor

Changing careers is a big decision. This is especially true if you feel like you lack sufficient experience in your new field. However, if you’re feeling completely wiped out from your current job, and wrestling with symptoms of burnout, now might be an ideal moment to consider a new job or a career switch. After all, lots of other people are feeling the same way: A staggering 4.4 million workers left their jobs in September 2021.

As Shelley Zalis, chief executive of the Female Quotient, says, “Life is precious. Too precious to spend time in a job you hate where you feel undervalued, underpaid, and uninspired. […] It’s no longer the impressive title, corner office, or big bonus, but having more flexibility to pursue our passions and be present with our families.”

Here a few tips if you’re ready to take a leap and change careers in 2022:

1. Get comfortable with risk

Times of great upheaval can be opportune moments to learn something new about yourself. But if you’re about to take a big leap into a completely new field, you also should also get realistic about the risk involved.

As Fast Company contributor and author of The Long Game: How To Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World, Dorie Clark, advises, consider this as an opportunity for self-discovery, which will help you make better decisions going forward.

Ask yourself some guiding questions like:

• What is your level of comfort with taking risks?
• How do you react and respond to confronting an unknown that may work (or not) in your favor?
• Are you holding on desperately to your current job simply because you fear a lack of stability?

2. Reach out to connectors

If you’re new in an industry, you may find yourself reaching out cold to a hiring manager without someone who can vouch for you. To guarantee a higher level of success, it’s smart to get in touch with a connector.

In other words, ensure that you’re making time to contact and network with people in your desired industry. If networking feels uncouth and slimy, try to re-frame it in your own head as an exchange of resources. As Fast Company contributor Dina Smith describes it: “Think of networking as an opportunity to give, rather than to get. … There’s always something you can extend to others, and you probably have more to offer than you realize.”

Consider networking to be another advantageous skill that will help you land solidly in your dream field. Remember the next person you talk to could be the person who helps you land your big break.

3. Overcome feeling stuck

According to an August 2021 survey, workers said they stay in unsatisfying jobs or industries due to low confidence and/or the challenge of breaking out of a career rut.

If you find yourself saying to yourself, “I’m not what they’re looking for” or “Why would they hire someone like me?” Shake yourself out of these confidence-depleting statements now. One way to overcome these feelings is by asking yourself what sort of progress or life fulfillment you could achieve by remaining at your current role.

If the motivation you’re craving to do great work includes a new job, with better working conditions and flexibility to maintain the life you built during the pandemic, then let these values guide you to take action. Don’t let the uncertain side of yourself dissuade you from trying something new, forming a plan, and going for it.

4. Show that you have the right skills

You may not have the exact set of skills necessary to start mid-level in a new industry—you are new at this BUT that doesn’t mean you have nothing to offer. Demonstrate to a hiring manager what skills can transfer from your history of work. In a recent LinkedIn Learning report, a leading skill of 2021 was “resilience,” followed by other general skills such as “communication across distributed teams” and “emotional intelligence.” Show them that you have these soft skills that can make you an asset, no matter what industry or team you’re joining.

This isn’t to say you should ignore signs you’re not qualified for a position when looking for new opportunities; instead, you should work on being an adaptable candidate for a job. Take in the obstacles and assess how you will tackle each. Fast Company contributor Tomas Chamurro-Premuzic describes the importance of demonstrating that you are “curious, confident, [and] concerned about improving.”

5. Review how financially ready you are

It takes a lot of guts to jump head-first into the unknown, but it also can be challenging financially. “If you have enough money in savings, you may be able to quit without a job lined up,” says Vicki Salmei, a career expert from Monster. “Or you may want to hang on to your current job and look for another job in your spare time.”

Salemi also recommends keeping in mind other expenses that may pop up if you quit, such as healthcare, or education costs. Be prudent with how much financial risk you can handle—including what your decision will mean for those who rely on you for support.

Thanks for your Wisdom Diana Shi

We have so little time, so we need to motivate (and inspire) ourselves to keep doing the things that satisfy us—and not waste our time.

Here’s a list of motivational quotes that always get me off my but. I found that it works best to print your favorite quotes and place them somewhere you see them multiple times a day. For example, I have motivational quotes on my monitor, desk, closet, the dashboard of my car, bathroom.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
-Thomas A. Edison

“You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.”
Michael Jordan

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
– Pablo Picasso

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”
– Leonardo da Vinci

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
–Steve Jobs

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
–Henry Ford

“Find work you love and you’ll forget you’re working.”
–Sara Ohara

True motivation must come from within. So use these motivational quotes just to get started. Now, keep going with your own motivation.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux

“What did I learn today?” is one of the 3 questions I ask myself each night.

I always have an answer!…

My favorite way to learn is by studying people who have been on this planet for seven decades or more. One of those people is my grandfather, who’s 87 years old, and still takes care of himself.

I also met several highly successful entrepreneurs through my father, who I’m working with since 2010. I had the opportunity to start a business with my dad, and that automatically put me in the presence of great business people and investors.

Two of those people inspired me a lot. One of them is a Dutch real estate investor who’s now in his seventies. He once told me he never wants to retire. Another one is an American entrepreneur from Florida, who we recently started working with. He’s 82 years old. And late last year, he visited us in The Netherlands by himself. To him, age is not a limitation.

But that’s not what the car rental company thought. They didn’t want to give him a car because of his age! He told us, “These people don’t want to give me a car. I don’t understand it. I feel like I’m 50.”

Curiosity is undervalued

I ask every successful person I know what their “secret” is. What’s the key to a long life? Who’s better to answer that question than someone who can speak from experience?

Here’s what all these guys told me: You’ve got to stay curious. Keep learning new things, keep innovating. Don’t “retire” and call it quits. You’re toast the moment you do that.

Staying an eternal student is without a doubt one of the most important things in life.

Too much of our lives are dedicated to meaningless activities that keep us busy. But a life of curiosity doesn’t mean a life of busyness.

Busyness is the enemy of curiosity

I recently received a message from a guy I used to work out with. I no longer call him a friend, but at the time, we were close. He asked me how I’m doing. We exchanged some messages and I thought it was great he reached out.

I asked if I could give him a call so we could catch up properly. “I’m busy right now, I’ll get back to you.” I haven’t heard from him since.

If I’m too busy for a phone call, I see that as a sign that I’m not in control of my life. I learned this from the same guys I mentioned above. When you call them, they pick up. When you email them, they get back to you.

No matter how many responsibilities they have, and how many people they employ, they always make time. That’s my measure in life. If I can’t take off a day, I need to rethink my life and career.

If you can’t call someone for 10 minutes because you’re busy, life is in control of you. Other people are in the driver seat of your life. This has happened to me too. And I can’t imagine that people want to live like that. It’s this feeling that you’re being lived by something else.

Here’s the thing: When you’re busy, you can’t be curious anymore. After all, you’re too busy for that, right? Big mistake.

Curiosity keeps life novel

That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned from spending time with people who should’ve retired but are still active. Everything is noise except for doing the things that you’re curious about. That will keep your life full of activity and joy. And when you stay active, life becomes long.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux