Failure is a step forward not backwards.

[RazorCut]

A friend in a mastermind I am in posted the following YouTube video on motivation.

And here are the words I got the most from:

"I lot of people think that failure is a step backward. No no no no..
Failure is a step forward, a step forward in the right direction.
Every time you fail you learn something. You gain something from it.
You feel less anxiety when you are doing it again. You want to think that's a step backward?"


What resonated with me was the take on failure. The more you grow in your entrepreneurial endeavours the more you realise that failure is not something to be ashamed of but to be embraced.

If you are not failing in something then you are just playing it safe. Just not pushing hard enough. You have to understand that not pushing hard enough will result in it taking you a lot longing to get to where you want to be, or, for some not getting there at all.

The fear of failure is one of the hardest lessons for us to learn to overcome. The stigma that the 'uneducated world' spins on failure is what, in many people, creates the fear in the first place. People are more afraid of losing face than they are of actually failing. Their ultimate fear is being seen as a failure.

If you have this aversion to failure then you need to change your thought process. Don't set up a new business, set up a new experiment. If you share what you are doing with friends and family tell them you are running an experiment. The goal of the experiment is to collect data and compare the results of that data against a pre-determined projected outcome. At the end of the experiment it will either have had a positive or negative outcome.

This could be measured in many ways not just financial ones. I could set up a new experiment today but if it meant at the end of the experiment the data showed I was putting in 50 hours a week for $1000 of positive revenue then some would see that as success. However I might see this as a negative result if I were looking for $500 positive revenue for 10 hours of input per week.

However I have now collected enough data to run another experiment based on these results. I may decide that by outsourcing some of the processes created in the first experiment I could get closer to my $500/10h target.

This way you can detach yourself from the fear of failure. At the end of every experiment you focus on the results, be the outcome a positive or negative one. For you are just collecting data. Come up with another experiment you can run off the back of it and push forward.

So go out there as scientists and experiment never fearing failure only fearing no data and therefore no results.

 

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[AntEmpire]

I really like the idea of calling it an expirement. Just saying it in my mind about my own idea instantly put me at ease about the possibility of failure.

 

[RazorCut]

If you want to see what failure really looks like read @Vigilante's post here:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/standing-still-as-life-passes-by.62458/

I've been away for a week so only just discovered it. A very powerful message.

 

[Kingmaker]

"The difference between a master and an apprentice is that the master has failed more times than the apprentice has tried."

***

I also believe that a crucial part of failing 'well' is self-reflection. If one doesn't self-reflect on failure, on how/why/what they did wrong they are probably bound to fail again and again from the same or similar cause, even if they don't fear failure anymore.

So if 'collecting data' (failing) is the first step, rigorously analyzing that data is the second.

 

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[Tobore]

Here's how I see it:

"FAILURE" is success yet to be realized. "SUCCESS" is just a couple (or ton) of failures finally realized. Ironically, every defeat is success accumulating. Success itself, is just an end product.

The problem is people don't want to own their failures but the successes so they avoid failing - like a plague. Unknowing to them, they're avoiding success - and thereby stopping the "sweet juice" (the bitter experience that end up becoming sweet) from accumulating.

Our society has built into the "average" man that failure is bad and bitter. And success? Sweet and good.

But that's a HUGE LIE!

Men who fail, learn from it, and succeed are men of character. They're courageous. Confident. Experienced. Rich, "all round"

But society doesn't want to see courage, confidence, or even the experience to do it better next time. They want the flashy, "all-consuming" lifestyle.

"You don't want to fail math! If you do, we won't buy you x and y" . So people shun failure and find success "at all cost" which is usually, either $29.95 or in "three easy payments"

But those that go "the easy way" end up finding it hard and regretful. Those that choose to do it, no matter how hard they fall, end up finding what works - and do it so easily and successfully.

Every continuous attempt that FAILS creates the "sweet juice" that ends up becoming SUCCESS.

You work 23hrs/day failing hard, trying to put together the masterpiece? Who cares! "Just show us the easy way!"

FAILURE is the real-deal that creates success. The unseen and unheard "pure truth" that you can't find in any "Two Easy Steps for Success Book" or for just $29.99 "This Month Only".

 

[AntEmpire]

I really like the idea of calling it an expirement. Just saying it in my mind about my own idea instantly put me at ease about the possibility of failure.

Today I was testing some newly purchased products on my idea. The results I was getting were not how I imagined they would be and I was getting discouraged. And then I remembered I was "experimenting".

After stepping back a bit to think I came up with a new experiment. Using my new products and some old ones I previously thought would be secondary to the new stuff, I tried again and achieved the results I hoped for.

Even better, after further thinking, I wondered if there was a tool available to make using both products together even simpler. After some searching online I found there was, and that it was only $5 on Amazon.

Again, I'm loving this "experimenting" add-on in my entrepreneur mindset. It's definitely keeping me on the right track.

 

[Imgal]

@RazorCut you just keep on bringing those gems to us. Love the video.

At the end of the day success and failure are just two words. Nothing more. If an alien came and landed on Earth and you thought him those two words they would just be two things that were a jumble of letters. We have become conditioned as a society though to attach so much emotion to them. Say the word success and immediately people feel . Say the word failure and people go shooting off down the other end of the spectrum and it's all . At the end of the day both are nothing more than social constructs.. and ones so easy to fall for.

It's also because at the end of the day we tie them both to much to our own ego. Success allows you to do a big "Look at me and what i've done!!". Failure has us all wanting to run away and hide because somehow we attach one failure in our life to being the whole thing that defines us. I know it because after a run of good investments and businesses I got arrogant, I invested badly, lost all i put in AND then spent three months wallowing because my ego had been damaged losing probably 5 times the investment by sitting still. If I'd used the mind shift of seeing new ventures as experiments, there wouldn't have been time for wallowing. I would have had experiments to do. Action would have been taken.

I think perhaps the most powerful thing about describing new project as experiments is it becomes scientific, not emotional. I don't ever remember wallowing for months when I did endurance experiments on athletes and they rudely proved me wrong on my hypothesis. When I got caught up in the excitement and invested because it was going to be amazing that i proved everyone I could rule an industry that I knew nothing about... well that hurt me to the point of never bothering again!

 

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[Madhu]

Lots of inspiring thoughts here!

For me learning to cope with failure required me to rewire my understanding of goals.

Previously, I'd set a goal for myself and focus on achieving it. I'd put in lots of effort to achieve my goal and often make lots of sacrifices. There was a subconscious assumption that achieving goal would bring me happiness. Hence, if I failed to achieve a goal, it would be devastating, especially because of all the time I've put into it.

The big change I have made is I now look for happiness in the journey. I only try to reach a goal if the journey brings happiness, growth and value.

This simple change has improved my life. It no longer matters if I fail to achieve my goal. This in turn makes it easier to bounce back from obstacles and learn from them.

 

[RazorCut]

Today I was testing some newly purchased products on my idea. The results I was getting were not how I imagined they would be and I was getting discouraged. And then I remembered I was "experimenting".

After stepping back a bit to think I came up with a new experiment. Using my new products and some old ones I previously thought would be secondary to the new stuff, I tried again and achieved the results I hoped for.

Even better, after further thinking, I wondered if there was a tool available to make using both products together even simpler. After some searching online I found there was, and that it was only $5 on Amazon.

That's really inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

 

[RazorCut]

I think perhaps the most powerful thing about describing new project as experiments is it becomes scientific, not emotional.

Love that angle. Makes everything much more analytical and insulates you more from negative feelings that can stunt your progress and hold you back.

 

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[Rachel Akito]

I agree. Failure is just another learning experience. When we learn we move forward. It is essential for us to learn the proper way to accept failure. If we fail it only means that we tried something and the next time we try it again then we would have learned not to do the thing that caused us to fail. Thank you for sharing this. I really appreciate reading about it.