The major difference between achieving people and average people is their perception of and response to failure. John C. Maxwell covers the top reasons people fail and shows how to master fear instead of being mastered by it. Listeners will discover that positive benefits can accompany negative experiences-if you have the right attitude. Chock full of action suggestions and real-life stories, Failing Forward will help men and women move beyond mistakes to fulfill their potential and achieve success.

While most people see setbacks as a negative, Dr. Maxwell points out that there is an important lesson that we can use to accomplish more in the future. Building on that appropriate and valuable perspective, Failing Forward postulates 15 principles that can help you apply the lesson.

Each chapter covers a separate principle and is filled with self-diagnostic questions, as well as heart-warming examples of how people went from apparent failure towards great success.

The work is very consistent with the philosophy of Anthony Robbins. If you are a Robbins fan, you will find this book to be a good complement to Unleash the Power Within.

I strongly recommend that you read this book, and reread it the next time you are feeling sorry for yourself or have a setback. If you care about others, be prepared to loan your copy to the next person who looks morose after having a problem.

Dr. Maxwell also offers a self-diagnostic test on the book's Web site (www.failingforward.com). I took that test and found it helpful to cement my understanding of the book. I recommend that you do this as well.

Unlike most books about self-improvement that are scaled to a level of sophistication, this book should appeal both to those with lots of experience and education as well as those who have yet to develop those perspectives.

The only people who will be confused will be those who have yet to experience any significant setbacks. They will wonder what all the fuss is about. To fill in that point, progress is seldom smooth. It usually looks more like 1 or 2 steps forward, and them some backward. In essence, we are talking about a zig-zag, even when things go well. At other times, the zig-zag can be downward.

32 of 32 found the following review helpful:


An important nook about an important life issue  Nov 14, 2003
John Maxwell does a marvellous job of helping people to work through failure and move on. I am 53 years old and was recently laid off by an employer who told me that I was the best employee he had. I felt betrayed and would wake up every morning thinking of ways to get even (even though I knew I wouldn't act on them.) I was really hurt and couldn't get over it. A friend of mine suggested I read two books. The first one she recommended was this one and it really helped me to put things into perspective. Instead of moping around the house, I started looking through the papers and making calls to get job interviews. Yes, it got me going! The other book my friend recommended was Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self which helped me to understand that every situation (even a a situation I don't like) is an opportunity to be my best, and it showed me how to make the most of any situation. With books like these in the world, we never have to be stuck and we can really make the most of our lives.

21 of 21 found the following review helpful:


decent stuff here  Jan 09, 2001 By Jeffrey L. Seglin "Seglin"
Maxwell is a former minister and the founder of a company that offers support services to religious organizations. As such, his book's upbeat, you can do it tone may be off-putting to some. But there's some interesting stuff here and the real life examples he uses of people of have learned from failure provide some good hands-on advice. The book is organized into 15 steps that will help us make the most out of a failure. These are designed to help us 'fail forward.' Some of them include: find the benefit in every bad experience; work on the weaknesses that weaken you; change your response to failure by accepting responsibility. There's not a lot of analysis or depth to Maxwell's observations, but there's enough here in the way of examples to ground his practical observations to make this a useful motivational book.

22 of 23 found the following review helpful:


Failure is never final  Jan 01, 2004
This was is my first book by Maxwell, but it won't be my last. Maxwell mixes scriptures along with success principles and tells us that failure is never final. It's not how many times you fall, it's how many times you get back up and how much you learn from it.

Some people have called this a hookie-pookie superficial feel good book. I strongly disagree, except that I can do more by feeling good than by feeling lousy.

Maxwell is excellent. His words will inspire you but more than that, his words, when followed will instruct you as well.

Outstanding book. Highly recommended.

26 of 28 found the following review helpful:


Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones....  Mar 22, 2000 By John
Having read several of this author's previous books I lookedforward to this one with great anticipation: it is even better thanexpected! Maxwell's thesis is that "The difference between those who are successful and those who are not lies in their perception of, and their response to, failure." He builds his case in a very convincing series of fifteen steps. At the end of each step (chapter) all of the preceding steps are relisted: I found this very helpful!

No matter what your age, sex or occupation, this book will open your eyes. Get it!

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