The architecture is brilliant. The scenery is astounding. And, my neck is cranked from staring at this tower in Italy called Pisa.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is considered one of The Seven Wonders of the World. It’s amazing to think about the story behind this global treasure. The structure took 99 years to build due to long breaks in the construction due to the Republic of Pisa battling the likes of Genoa, Lucca, and Florence.

Sitting in front of it, a person can’t help but think that it’s actually going to tip over within the next few seconds.

But, it won’t. It’s been leaning for centuries and will endure. What can we learn from it?

Opportunity Out of Failure

Imagine you’re one of the builders of this great tower. Obviously you don’t start with a plan in mind to construct a crooked tower. Instead, you start with the plan to build a straight tower—a perfectly aligned tower. But, then something unexpected happens.

You see the foundation shift. You get worried. You wonder if you should stop building even though your construction isn’t even nearing completion. And, then, you realize you have a choice to make.

Often, this is a similar story to our personal hopes, goals, and dreams. You create a perfect plan. You start moving toward your goal, and then your foundation gets rocked.

You can quit.

You can start over.

Or, you can realize that just maybe the world is giving you a path to not only build a tower, but build a tower that will exist in infamy.

I wouldn’t be sitting here right now if this tower weren’t crooked. Most likely, none of us would have ever heard about this tower. Actually, the tower is curved because the architects attempted to compensate for the lean by making the upper rooms have one side higher than the other.

Situations will arise in your life that will rock your foundation. When they do, don’t give up. Realize that you might be sitting on the next piece of incongruent history. All you need to do is keep chasing your dream.

We can’t always go back and correct things. Life doesn’t hand out do-overs all the time. But what you and can do is learn to take advantage of negative situations. Too often when bad things happen, we want to throw in the towel. But quitting doesn’t achieve anything.

Experiencing problems doesn’t equal failure. They’re more like those speed humps you have to slow down to drive over. It’s all about our perspective. Are you an architect who sees an enduring masterpiece despite major setbacks? Or when the foundations shift in your plan, do you walk away from the structure, content to let it sit, unfinished, unremembered?

Dreams can shift right when you’re in the middle of their pursuit. It’s up to you to continue the building process.

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