The truth is that in life you will most likely fail more than you succeed. I want you to get used to failing and fail spectacularly well. It is in our failures where we have the greatest potential to learn and grow, the most and to discover what doesn’t work. Once you know that, you can work on changing tact, strategy and approach.
Failure is such an important part of life. Remember you didn’t walk out of the womb. When you took your first step you didn’t start running around the room immediately. Most likely you wobbled and fell. BUT you most likely got back up again and kept on going UNTIL walking became something you could do easily.
Your failures in learning how to walk helped you figure out how to move your feet, achieve balance and navigate your way through the physical environment without banging into the sofa or the doorway.
Now let’s bring this back to you and your goals and dreams. When you take a step in the direction of your goals and it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t mean that you are a failure. It simply means that the step you took failed to work out. It’s an opportunity to take a step back, assess your strategy and go again, perhaps in a new way. Succeeding in your goals requires you to grow as a person. Success means embracing failure. Making failure an important part of your success journey automatically transforms your response when things don’t go to plan.
It’s an attitude. It’s how you look at your situation. Initially anger, disappointment, frustration etc. may come out to play, but as you begin to remember that the failure which you are experiencing is a teaching tool on your success journey, then the rules of the game changes and you can begin to ask more empowering questions.
Consider the following scenarios and thought processes as an example:
Failure Used To Punish
‘I failed to sell any products today. I’m such a bad salesperson. There’s no point trying again tomorrow. I should just give up.’
Failure Used to Progress
‘I failed to sell any products today. I wonder if my sales approach could be improved? Who do I know in my social/professional circle who is a great salesperson? Am I selling products in a location where there is a need for them?’
Same situation. Different responses to it
The more you fail and embrace it, the more likely you are to succeed. It may take longer than you imagined. It’s frustrating at times. But whether you ultimately succeed in your endeavour or not, learning and growing from your so- called failures will add so many valuable new skills to your arsenal that you’ll be unrecognisable from the person you were when you first began.
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better”
Samuel Beckett