1- Failure is Inevitable & Guaranteed
First things first, you need to know that failure not only happens, but it is inevitable & guaranteed… and that is a good thing. No person on this planet does not go a single day without failing at something. Once you understand that failing is inevitable and guaranteed, your perception of failure should change. At least mine did. I don’t take failure as a negative word. I take it as a positive word. To look deeper into this, I did a post in Forbes with Shark Tank’s Daymond John.
2- Failure is A Necessity
In order to succeed at anything in life, you need to know that failure is not only inevitable and guaranteed but it is also necessary. Failure is the only way we learn and grow. It is one of the very few seemingly negative things that we must consistently do, accept and actually look forward to. It is simply the way we learn. It is important to look at the lessons and what we learn from failure in order to understand the opportunities that are created when things don’t go exactly according to plan.
3- Failure Negates Complacency
If we are perfect and we are always batting 1000 at the plate, we will get complacent and bored with our own success. I love the fact that there is nothing on this planet that we have learned that we can’t learn more about, and nothing we can become great at that we can’t learn to be even better. If Lebron James couldn’t get any better I guarantee you he would quit. Trying to be perfect is one of the biggest liabilities an entrepreneur can have.
4- Failure Means You Are Swinging The Bat
In order to succeed at anything in life you have to show up and try your best. As Daymond spoke about in his interview on Forbes, “if you’re not making mistakes, you are not making moves.” As you haven’t guessed there is no way to make a mistake if you don’t take action.
5- Failure Increases The Odds Of Success
The more you fail, the greater your chances are that you will eventually succeed. David Williams, columnist for Forbes, and CEO of Fishbowl Inventory goes very deep into this discussion in his book,The 7 Non- Negotiables Of Winning. It is an incredible book and a must-read for employers and leaders on how to treat your team correctly and create a winning environment. David discusses the concept of ‘Failing Up’ which is something very similar to the way I think about ways to turn lemons into Lemon-Aide.
6- Failure Gives You Thick Skin
The more you fail, the thicker skin you will have to face your fears and better your chances to succeed. It is called building your rejection muscle. In business, it is a necessity to learn how to grow thick skin and build this rejection muscle as quickly as humanly possible.
I believe there is a huge misconception about failure and people assign the wrong definition to the word. To me the true definition of failure to me is giving up. In my entrepreneurial journey I have lost many battles, battles many would think of as failures. To me, however, what is important is winning the war. Being an entrepreneur is all about winning the war and accepting these battles (which others call failures) as part of the process of growing a business and winning the war.
Have a great day!
MJ
Courtesy - http://www.n2itivsolutions.com/2013/12/27/the-6-most-important-things-you-absolutely-must-know-about-failure/
