Failure
I want you to think about failure. I want you to think about the times you have failed. I want you to write down in the space below all of the words and images that come to mind when you think about the word “failure”. If you are not making notes, think about it before you turn the page.
Your list might be similar to these common associations:
• Loser.
• Miserable.
• One bitten twice shy.
• Backward step.
• Painful.
• Rejection.
• Give up.
• Embarrassed.
• Feel foolish.
• Breakdown.
• Malfunction.
• Collapse.
• Disappointment.Some people add:
• Get back up.
• Try again.
• Better luck next time.Some people, but only a few people have positive associations.
It is no wonder most people have negative associations with the concept of failure. Our education systems, many organizations and many parents emphasize over and over that failure is bad. Even if a person tries their best, failure is more often than not criticized.
But the opposite is actually the case! Innovation requires failure.
Improvement requires failure. Invention requires failure.
Success requires failure.
Deep down we all know this. Let’s look at some examples.
When a baby boy learns to walk he fails; over and over and over again. Does his baby diary say:
• “James failed again today.”
• “James still not walking – what a failure.”
• “James tried five times to walk today, failed every time. Why does he bother?”No! His baby diary says (after 200 not mentioned failures) “Baby James walked today! Three steps on his own. We are so proud of him!”
Kids fail all the time. They fail in pronunciation, in spelling, in following a recipe, in riding a bike, in swimming. We all accept that their multiple failures are simply stepping stones on the road to success.
But as we get older we find that failure is less and less acceptable. I used to work for Mobil (now Exxon Mobil). They had a motto for senior management “one strike and you’re out”. How powerful is that for stifling innovation and invention? You make one mistake and you’re out!
Did you know that statistically the people who are the best at anything have had the most failures? Let’s look at an example. If you are a reasonable skier you can go from the top of a run to the bottom without falling over. But if that is all you do, you improve very slowly. If however you push yourself to go faster, turn more quickly, do slalom and try jumps you will wipe out many, many times. It is only by trying new moves and failing that you improve. The same is true of just about any endeavour.
I will give you a personal example. Last summer our family went camping by a river with a big swimming hole and a long high rope swing. Most people swung out and dropped feet first into the river. But I was determined to do a full back flip. I failed over and over while I tried different techniques. I landed on my back, my ear (that hurt) and countless undignified big ugly splashes. But finally on the third day I mastered it. People even clapped when I did it. But it was only because I had failed again and again.
We need to reprogram our minds that failure is not only good, it is absolutely critical for our personal development.
Critical Principle 8: Continual failure is required for personal growth and development.
Some Personal Failures
I have failed many, many times in my life. I now completely accept failure as an acceptable price to pay for future success. But here are some of my failures:
1. My first job as a graduate after university was awful. My failure was in picking the wrong employer. Fortunately after 18 months I resigned and learned my lesson.
2. I have frequent failures in my trading (i.e. I lose money). I analyse these trade and I often learn valuable lessons.
3. When I ran my recruitment company I would work hard on a particular placement but fail to find the right candidate.
4. As I relate in the chapter “Bad Times/Challenges – Part 1” I once tried to make $1m dollars in one year in real estate and lost money instead.
5. I have entered short stories for publication and for competitions, and they have been rejected.
6. I have asked celebrities to do Lifestyle Interviews, and been turned down.
7. I tried to be a Rock Star, and failed.
8. I asked a billionaire to invest $25m in my fund, and was turned down.
9. I started an outdoor advertising business, and it was a glorious failure.
To help me I now use the term “Successful Failure”. There are two important aspects to Successful Failure:
Fail Fast
The more quickly you fail the faster you will grow and develop. So don’t wait around, don’t put off the project or business or idea or asking that person for a date any longer. If you are going to fail, do it fast and move on.
Fail Cheaply
If you are going to fail, fail cheaply. Protect your downside and even if you do fail it won’t cost much. This is not being negative, just wise. For example let’s say you want to start a business. You don’t buy $50,000 worth of product because you can get a 10% discount. You buy $500 worth of product and if it sells you buy more. If it doesn’t sell you learn and move on, and the lessons you learned only cost you $500.The real key to failure is that every failure is a learning experience. You think about what you did right, what you did wrong and what you can do differently next time.
One thing I love about failure is that it allows you to move on. If you stick with mediocrity and inside your comfort zone, you never get to move on and reach your potential. But when you step out and risk failure, then you can really start to succeed.
Embrace failure! Every failure is a stepping stone to success. In fact every failure is a gift from the world to you. The gift is the learning experience you gained.
Action Step 10:
Try something new in the next 24 hours, and if you fail, embrace it then move on!
To help you reprogram your mind to embrace failure, here are some of my favourite quotes on failure.
Copy your favourites and put them in a prominent place:
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over in my life. And that’s why I succeed!” - Michael Jordan
“I don’t believe in failure. It’s not failure if you enjoyed the process.” - Oprah Winfrey
"Failure is another steppingstone to greatness." - Oprah Winfrey
“Would you like me to give you a formula for... success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all... you can be discouraged by failure / or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the far side.” - Thomas J. Watson (founder of IBM)
“Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.” - Barack Obama
“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely.” - Henry Ford
“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.” - Woody Allen
“I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” - Thomas Edison
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas Edison
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Sir Winston Churchill
“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” - Sir Winston Churchill
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” - Confucius - Chinese philosopher.
“Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.” - Napoleon Hill
“If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something” - Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Samuel Beckett
“I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed; and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying.” - Tom Hopkins
“The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.” - Lloyd Jones
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.” - H. Stanley Judd
“An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.” - Charles Franklin Kettering
“Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.” - Vincent “Vince” Lombardi
“Many a man has finally succeeded only because he has failed after repeated efforts. If he had never met defeat he would never have known any great victory.” Orison Swett Marden
“To bear failure with courage is the best proof of character that anyone can give.” - W. Somerset Maugham
“Yes, risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing taking.” - Tim McMahon
“There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.” - Erich Fromm
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” - James Arthur Baldwin
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour.” - Truman Capote
“Mistakes are merely steps up the ladder.” - Paul J. Meyer
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.” - George Bernard Shaw
“My reputation grows with every failure.” - George Bernard Shaw
“Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore let us be extremely patient with each other’s faults and failures.” - Mother Teresa
“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” - Oscar Wilde
“Winners lose more than losers. They win and lose more than losers, because they stay in the game.” Terry Paulson
“No man is ever whipped until he quits – in his own mind.” - Napoleon Hill
“All my successes have been built on my failures.” - Benjamin Disraeli
George (Babe) Ruth has many times been voted the world’s greatest baseball player. He was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season (1927), and this record stood until 1961. His lifetime total of 714 home runs was a record at his retirement in 1935 and was a record until 1974. His .342 lifetime batting is the tenth highest in baseball history, and he still holds the Yankees season record of .393 (1923). His .690 career slugging percentage and 1.164 career on-base plus slugging (OPS) are still major league records. But until 1964 he also held the record for the most strike-outs (1,330).
Here are three quotes from Babe Ruth:
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”