While watching one of the games the Ironton Classic this past December, on the back of one of the teams warm-up shirts was a something that resonated with me so much I used it on my softball team’s practice shirts that are worn by players and coaches.

That quote says “Failure Starts…When I Stop”. While it is certainly appropriate for an athlete, I began to ponder and quickly realized that this is something that is applicable to anything we do in life. Whether it is sports, a career, family, a hobby or faith, the moment a person stops working to become more knowledgeable or improving is the moment when he becomes stagnant and failure begins to set it.

Does that mean that a person is a failure? Absolutely not. In fact, we will all fail many times in our lives, but the ability to recognize that something is not working or enhancement is needed will ultimately be a key to turning a failure into a success.

I truly believe that no matter what we do in life, we can always improve.

Legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden once said, “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be”.

At the newspaper, our goal is to always work to improve our products and services to provide the best quality to our readers and advertisers. That can be improving our processes in production, delivery or customer service.

 

For me personally, I continuously look at the things I do on a daily basis and work to improve as a boss, husband, father, coach and member of our community. I feel that is the most important thing I can do is work hard to make the people around me successful. Have I always achieved this? No, not by a long shot. But, I will always look at the things that may not have worked along with the things that did and get better.

Unfortunately, we see many today who simply are willing to fail and give up. This is especially true for the younger generation, as they either have no desire to improve or let one obstacle define who they will be for the rest of their lives.

Another example, for many, could be our government at the federal, state, and in some cases local level. Instead of working together for the common good of all, for decades we have watched our elected leaders gripe and bicker with each other about one thing after another. Most times, this resulted in failing to get anything done or something that is simply not good for the people as a whole.

Being a big sports person, I am reminded of the NC State men’s basketball coach Jim Valvano who said, “don’t ever give up”.

Failure will always be relevant, but don’t let one failure be the defining factor, work to overcome it and Never Stop.

 

Josh Morrison is the general manager at The Tribune. To reach him, call 740-532-1441 ext. 16 or by email at josh.morrison@irontontribune.com.