Yesterday (today) I wrote (write) my last article for the failure series. I felt it appropriate as I had a significant fail that day.

Like you, I have pet peeves or small things that profoundly irritate me.
Like you, I wish people would not do things that irritate me.
Like you, I wish people would do what I say.

I woke up in the best of moods: the sun was out, the wind calming, and I felt a cool breeze. Indeed, in my mind, I was “blessed and highly favored.” How could this day get any worse? I live with my sister.

As a child, kids bullied me.   As a child, people would choose others before me. As a child, people always seemed to have better things. As a child, I thought like a child. 

During early adulthood, I would see others and want to be like them. I noticed leaders chose others over me. People would often post about their grandiose life on social media, and I would be jealous. As an early adult, I thought like a child.  

My mind works too fast too often. Growing up as a teenager, it was a struggle. Later as a young adult, it became a headache.

As I’ve intimated in previous entries, I live with bipolar disorder. I feel people create a stigma in their head about what that means; it means different things for different people. For me, when I’ve been up, it means that my mind races a hundred years into the future.

My father would tell me, as a kid:

“God and ‘me’ make a majority.” — John Brady, parent

He would later come to regret imparting this advice.

I am a principled individual. I strongly believe in my values. More often than not, I have done what I think is right in spite of the majority opinion. More often than not, I ruined relationships because I felt the other party violated a sacred belief - my opinion.

I used to own a music contracting agency. This type of business hires musicians for gigs — a broker. When I started this business, I was young - 18 years old. I started it because I had something other musicians didn’t. I had access.  

If you’re going to introduce a new product to the market, having access to the market is critical. Being able to connect others to your product or service leads to increased business. My problem was not the access; my problem was that I was aware others did not have the access I had.  

When I used to be a bandleader, I had a terrible reputation as being a hard ass. I was. I dedicated my entire self and soul to the music I performed. I expected no less from those playing with me. That was my problem. My expectations did not allow for mistakes.  

Night after night, I demanded of myself flawless execution. There was never a reason not to do it right. One musician even asked me, “Brady, I don’t know what you want from me.” My response, “I want one thing, one thing. I want it right. Always.”  

If you know me, you know that lawyers raised me, two of them. It’s almost like the wolf pack raising Mowgli. My parents bred me to be a fighter. I don’t like this quality about myself. Well, no, I like it in balance.  

In the past, I was working for an organization where I felt we were overpaying for service. Moreover, I felt as if the vendors knew we were overpaying for the service. Then, my boss challenged me to cut the cost by almost 100%. Remember how I mentioned that I am bred to fight? Yeah.   

The only failure I know is the failure to embrace failure. When I used to lead a large department, I would ask the leaders that reported to me - how did you fail today? Would you be surprised to learn that no one enjoyed answering the question? Quite often, I would hear, “Well, I don’t think I failed…” or, “I don’t like how the word ‘fail’ sits with me.” Okay, I get it. No one likes to think they failed. But, I believe it’s the use of this harsh and extreme word that motivates us to profoundly think about our actions or inactions. It can’t stop there, though. In my mind, the only time “failure” does not sit right is when I choose not to learn and change from my “failure.” Or, when I decide not to learn my lesson. Learning the lesson is growth, and growth is life. Will Smith and David Goggins have commented on this topic a bit. I believe they, and others like them, are right. What they get, that I wish more people would, is that failure is to be embraced. To embrace failure is to embrace learning is to embrace life. I am all about “coming alive” and becoming a more effective version of yourself. For the next few days, I am going to share my own failures. What I learned and how I’ve turned many negatives into positives. I hope you’ll consider following along.Also…if you know others that would find this content helpful, please be generous and share.

I believe that the best lessons are learned young.   Ever walk into an office, especially a doctor’s office, and see diplomas upon diplomas on the wall? I believe part of the reason for hanging degrees relates to pride, and the other part relates to establishing trust. “Here, you can trust me, because I’ve gone to school for what I do, and I’m a professional.” For those of us in professions where a degree may not be required, what do we have?  We have our experience.  We have a lifetime of working with other people - playing well with others.We have a lifetime of serving other people’s needs - sitting and paying attention.We have a lifetime of demonstrating self-accountability - putting away our things.We have years developing our crafts - learning about and using colors.We have a lifetime of advocating for ourselves - knowing our names.I keep my kindergarten diploma on my wall. I do it as a reminder that the most effective ways of being are the simplest ways of being — no need to overcomplicate the simple. Everything you need, you learned in Kindergarten.

My Dad, now and then, drops these beautiful nuggets of wisdom.  He dropped this idea on me the other day. I found it helpful. Maybe you will, too?

“The best impressions are when people expect them the least.” - John Brady

It doesn’t take much to leave a good impression.

• Care.
• Be Thoughtful.
• Serve Others.
• Be Authentic.
• Don’t Show Off.

Nobody expects this treatment from anyone. But, just because nobody expects it, doesn’t mean you can’t show it.