Failing Is Part of the Growth Process
The truth is that if you don’t fail now and then, you’re not trying hard enough. Many people have such a fear of failure that they never push themselves to move through a challenge, and so they never experience either failure or success. They just coast along. The fact is, failure is part of the growth process in all aspects of life, especially business.
- Failure Is Part of the Learning Process – You’ve heard the saying from proverbs, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” This is telling you that failure is expected and natural. It’s the way we learn. It’s like learning to ride a bike. You fall off. You skin your knees. But you get right back up and try again. It’s not any different in business. Sometimes a new idea will fail spectacularly, but there is always a lesson within that failure to help propel you to success the next time.
- Failure Should Be Tolerated and Expected – So many people have decided that failure is bad, but we should not only tolerate and expect it, we should almost encourage it. Because the fact is, if you’re not failing sometimes, you’re not putting yourself out there enough. Imagine if J.K. Rowling had stopped submitting her work on Harry Potter to publishers every time she got a “no.” Each rejection was a failure but it taught her how to succeed.
- Failure Should Be Rewarded – We can create an abundance of success if we start encouraging failure. When someone tries something and gives it their all but fails, it should be rewarded. Take the time to analyze why the failure occurred and acknowledge the good that came from it, while making plans for trying again.
- Failure Creates Change – Consider how a new invention goes through many incarnations before it becomes a final version. The light bulb (more on that below), computer operating systems, even the typewriter went through many incarnations before they became known as they are now. The failures before them are what made the successes possible.
- Failure Keeps You Grounded – If all you experience in life is success, you won’t be a very grounded person. In fact, you may become arrogant and think you’re super special when the truth is you’re not pushing yourself hard enough and have become stagnant. Failure lets you see your own humanity and therefore become more accepting of others.
- Failure Brings New Innovation – Take a look at the history of the light bulb and you’ll see that each failure brought a new idea to light that made the invention better. Even today we have new light bulb inventions due to the perceived failures of the one before it. When something doesn’t work, it always brings to light something else that may work.
- Failure Brings Growth – As you expand your knowledge while building your business, it’s natural to have some setbacks. But you’ll also experience bursts of growth. In fact, it might just be a big giant idea bombing that projects a growth spurt that you don’t expect. Did you know that Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players of all time, did not make his high school basketball team? Imagine if he had given up?
- Failure Is Part of Success – Michael Jordan has been quoted as talking about all the times he’s failed, and he’s given that as an example of why he succeeds. He succeeds because he keeps on trying even after failing. So, he misses the winning shot in this game; maybe if he practices more he won’t in the next. It’s his ability to get back up, dust himself off, and keep on trying that brings success.
The fact is, without failure you can’t have growth and success. Without experiencing ups and downs you have no idea when you’re finally up. Failure can teach you that having a plan A, B and C is beneficial. The truth is, all failure is just another step toward succeeding, because you learn from each failure in a way you can’t learn from success.