Failing is Inevitable
“The person most interested in success has to learn to view failure as a healthy, inevitable part of the process of getting to the top” — Joyce Brothers, the face of American Psychology.
Allow me to explain — Accepting that you will fail is essential to your success.
Unfortunately, something that is not talked about enough is how often you will fail. On your path to success, you will fail… ALOT. Not only will you fail, but you will also desperately want to quit and give up. You will feel utterly depleted, oftentimes being left without the strength to put your feet on the floor in the morning. (Very inspiring… thanks)
KEEP READING! I PROMISE IT GETS BETTER.
At the age of 65, Colonel Harland Sanders had 1,009 restaurants reject him before he heard his first “yes”. Lindsey Sterling was X’d by all 3 judges in front of millions of people on America’s Got Talent. Not only did Stephen King throw Carrie into the trash (his wife found it and told him to keep writing), but he was also rejected 30 times by publishers. Oprah was fired from her job as an anchor because, according to her producer, she was “unfit for television”.
Through failing, you learn HOW to be successful. By acknowledging that failure is a part of your journey, you not only set yourself free BEFORE you fail, but you also prepare your mind, soul, and spirit for AFTER you fail as well. In doing so, you give yourself a lens through which you can view failure not as end-all-be-all but as a necessary part of success.
I love what Winston Churchill said about Success. He said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”.
ACTION STEP: Write down your 1 day, 1 month, and 1-year goals. Now, directly across from those goals, write down how you might fail. Next, directly beneath each possible failure, write down how you will choose to respond. Prepare! Remember, failing is inevitable — Accept it
Absolutely right, Mike. That’s a great thought. Thanks for reading it 🙏🏻
Well put Jon. Being that it’s October baseball, I’ll provide an analogy to support your post. In order to be a HALL of FAME baseball player, a hitter likely FAILED 70% of the time. Apply similar thinking to sales process and closing ratios...failing 75% is inevitable. Again, how you react and go after the next one is what matters! Keep up your great work!
Great post! It’s so much harder to embrace failure vs. success and yet we learn, grow and adapt faster when we recognize and address our own shortcomings and failures. Further, many of our greatest technological innovations and achievements were the result of countless and spectacular failures.
It’s not how many times we fall but how many we get up!! 👊🏻