Have you failed lately?
What if the key to success is massive failure?
Failure is an experience that we all avoid isn’t it?
Whether you are starting a new business or a new career…
Whether you are answering phones or making cold calls…
Our goal is to always be successful…right?
Failure on the other hand is something we have learn to avoid. We’ve always been told to learn from our mistakes, but isn’t the goal really to avoid mistakes altogether? Darren Hardy, former editor of Success magazine, writes that some of the best advice he ever got on how to be successful, was to increase his rate of failure. He was told he should try to fail fast and often. Does this sound crazy to you? Does it make you nervous? It does me!
Reframe failure as research and development
“I wasn’t failing, I was learning how to succeed.” This quote from Ted Turner re-frames the experience of failure. Rather than looking at it as something to avoid, he approaches it as a learning opportunity. You can learn a lot from failure, and not just how to avoid it next time. Sometimes there is opportunity in failure to begin again. Sometimes failure is a necessary stepping stone to success.
Increase the number of opportunities for failure
“The key to success is massive failure… whoever can fail the most, the fastest and the biggest, wins,” says Tom Watson of IBM. How can this be true? When you are selling, the more chances you take at failure, the more chances you have that you will find the people who want to say yes. How many no’s does it take to get to a yes? An average of seven. If you approach failure as a necessary experience to get through to get to yes, it becomes something you want to seek out frequently.
The bigger failure is… the bigger success is
“The increase in volume, speed and size of my failure also increased the volume, speed and size of my success,” writes Darren Hardy. What if you set a goal for yourself, not of how many times you could succeed but of how many times you could fail? What if your goal was to contact prospective clients and your goal was to get ten no’s. What if the first seven said no? Don’t you imagine that you are positioning yourself for the next one to say yes? Don’t you think that each time you practice your pitch you are improving? What if the first ten say yes? Are you going to be disappointed that you didn’t reach your goal and fail? What if your goal is to attend double the number of networking groups for the week or the month? Might you fail? Imagine how much you could learn and improve.
Failure is a word and experience that most of us try to avoid.
What if failure isn’t the end of the road, just the beginning of success?
Failure isn’t just useful. It isn’t just a great opportunity to learn. It is often a necessary step to reach success.
How often do you plan to fail?
Set a goal for yourself this week: One that you know is impossible to achieve. Then see what you learn from it…
I was at a turning point in my business in deciding which direction to go. I needed some focus and inspiration. Fortunately I was connected with Lynne Watts and Dream Achiever Coaching. Through a few individual coaching sessions and her informative videos I learned how to change my mindset about “selling” and promoting my business. I also gained clarity on direction and uncovered a business model that would work best with my current phase of life. I now have greater clarity to move forward in 2017 and have already landed my first client of the year! Lynne is positive, encouraging, and is great at helping you find the clarity and inspiration you need to move to the next level! I highly recommend Lynne’s coaching packages! ~Sandra Abdalian
Need to take a look at setting successful goals for next year? Let’s talk.
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