How to Overcome 2 Popular Assumptions About Failure
We have spent several posts discussing failure, and that failure is the key to success. Unfortunately, we seem to be programmed the opposite way. We are programmed to do everything we can to AVOID failure because we have been taught (or maybe its inherent) that failure is bad and we should avoid it. But we MUST reprogram our mindset to EMBRACE failure. Successful people fail their way to success because their mindset regarding failure is totally different from others. They see “failures” as SETBACKs and opportunities to learn and get better.
Here’re two more nuggets of wisdom from John C Maxwell’s, “Failing forward”.
- Failure is NOT objective
- Failure is NOT the enemy
Failure is NOT objective:
When a “failure” occurs, what determines whether it was actually a failure? YOU! You are the only one who can ultimately label the situation as a failure. That’s because its YOUR perspective and the subsequent action YOU either take or do not take that determines whether it was a failure. Even if the failure was objective on the surface, like a grade on an exam, it’s still not ultimately a failure unless you let it be.
For example, assume you get an”F” on an exam. That grade only results in a true failure if you don’t learn something from it and use it as fuel to move you forward. If you shrug your shoulders, put it out of your mind, and do nothing about it, then yes, it was a failure. Suppose, however, you take that exam and figure out WHY you FAILED, and then learn the information properly. Then you either take that exam again, or maybe you get the same information again on a later exam, and this time you do much better and maybe even ace it! You’ve turned the original “F” into something much better, and learned more effectively along the way.
It’s the same with business, athletics, personal goals, relationships, our trust in the Lord….everything.
A statistic that I find interesting: The average entrepreneur fails at 3.8 businesses before they find success. Do these entrepreneurs consider those first 3.8 businesses failures? Maybe they have even lost all of their money in each of these ventures. However, they’re still at it, still creating new businesses. Why? Because they’ve used the first 3.8 businesses to learn what doesn’t work, or how to improve what they are doing. They failed in only 1 sense, but not ultimately.
Failure is NOT the enemy
This is simply a mindset that we must reprogram. It’s hard because we’ve had [fill in your age] years of programming from our culture. But the reality is that people who see failure as the enemy are captive to those who conquer it. Those that embrace and learn from setbacks are those that are in charge.
When we give ourselves permission to fail, we give ourselves permission to excel. We can excel because we can learn so much more from what went wrong, then if it all went right. Here’s an example from the athletic world. Why do we hold practice? One of the main reasons is so that the players can fail in practice, and then correct that failure before the game. When we do the things that set us back in practice, we can learn to do the things that move us forward in the game.
When you change your perspective on failure, you can change your ultimate outcome.
Please connect with me, and share your ideas on how to effectively learn from failure. We all have different experiences, and we can always learn from each other.
Have a great day!
