Daily Inspiration: “Seek the inspiration that you need with your wins – learn from the hard lessons that come from your losses!” 

“Seek the inspiration that you need with your wins – learn from the hard lessons that come from your losses!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

The future can be a struggle, particularly when the uncertainty of your direction is in play. You can’t be guaranteed a straight-line path to success – in fact, you’ll know that it will involve a regular series of zigs and zags.

That’s why a video that I watched yesterday caught my attention – the individual was suggesting that you pause every once in a while and measure your success. Draw a chart – on one side, mark your GAINS column, and in the other, your LOSSES.

Do an inventory – and as long as your efforts are working in your favor, you’re obviously on the right track. A simple concept with powerful results!

But don’t stop there – be relentless in examining the items in your LOSSES column. Why did they happen? What did you do wrong? What could you have done better? What can you learn from them?

Riding into the future certainly is nothing like riding a bike – you might fall down a lot, but it’s your ability to get back up and keep riding that will, in the long run, determine your overall success.

In fact, success is an iterative process.

So too is the world of business. It’s this very type of thinking of continuous, incremental improvement that is driving the future of manufacturing.

Case in point – at my recent keynote in Morocco for the World Bank / International Finance Corporation, I explained that manufacturing is moving to a world of continual incremental innovation – because we now have the technology to design a product, 3d print it, put it out to market, see how well it is doing – and then instantly change it, rework it, and redesign it.

In this way, the process of manufacturing has become an interactive process – with continual analysis of the GAINS and the LOSSES.

The lesson learned? Take a progress inventory today!

Maybe you’ll find more inspiration for your future by measuring each day what you’ve gained rather than what you’ve lost. You’ll learn to take comfort from working harder to tip the scales of the chart in your favor.