“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
I get goosebumps reading the above quote. If you never fail, that means you have never started or really tried. All highly successful people in business, sports, acting and politics have failed much more than they have won.
The study of failure is so important in business that there is an entire convention called http://thefailcon.com/ in the Bay Area for technology entrepreneurs to study their own and others’ failures in order to become successful.
Let’s talk about the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan said the following:
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.”
Jordan goes on to state that the reason he became the best was because of his constant failure and used failure as motivation to drive for success.
In my own businesses I have failed much more than I have won. When I would fail, I was learning and honing my craft and getting better each time. I would take mental inventory of why I failed and what I need to fix, what I need to change and improve so failure would not happen again.
Always ask for feedback if you lose a deal. Every time I would pitch a new client and not win, I would put as much effort into finding out why as I did on trying to win. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Get feedback on why you are not winning and take it to heart and adjust daily to get better.
Once you have failed enough you will have all the possible reasons why you failed and will be that much more prepared for the next time. With every failure you will get better and grow if you are learning and implementing feedback.
Here are the 3 ways to embrace failure:
- Make sure you learn why you failed and how to fix the problem, so it does not happen again.
- Failing means you are taking action and doing. You are creating momentum. Most people never even start.
- Remember everyone that is successful had to start where you are and fail a lot before they won.
There is a high chance that when you take on anything difficult in life that you will fail. But the difference of success and mediocrity is in the relentlessness and persistence of getting better. Just like football; business is a game of inches and every inch counts. So always charge forward and embrace failure because it means you are gaining inches.
Don’t be afraid to fail, it is a necessary on the path to success. Start today! Make it happen!
Judge Graham
www.JudgeGraham.com