Let’s Turn Failure on Its Head

Failure is an event, it's not an identity … it’s something that happens on the way to a destination. The journey will have twists and turns and ups and downs on the way, but don’t let it stop you from moving.

One of the biggest fears I find with clients and in life is a fear of failure. We don’t step into the unknown because we’re afraid of failing. And I want to encourage you today to turn failure on its head … so how do we do this?

We use humor and treat it as a learning experience.

I remember working in the Gold Coast on the East Coast of Australia and my wife and I had started a business. Now it was booming and we decided (in our infinite wisdom) to hire more staff, change the business model, and have an emergency operation in the middle of all this! Well, you can imagine what happened … it turned into a colossal failure!

I still remember having to shut the business down (and consequently move house!) and feeling like my life was over … I remember going home and going to our spare bedroom and having a big sobbing, snotty, old-fashioned cry at the miserable man I’d become. It was messy … it was then that I googled ‘failure’.

What popped up were some ‘anti motivational’ posters and one really got my attention … it was a man at an athletics event cradling his head in his hands totally dejected with the slogan underneath said … failure … even when your very best is not good enough

Now it was then that I started to giggle .. then it made me laugh and then after I looked at a few more I started to belly laugh … It was then I realised that failure is an event … it’s not a destination … it’s something that can (and normally does) happen on the journey to the goal we’re trying to achieve. It’s not an identity and it’s not who I am … consequently it’s not who you are.

Now I’m happy to say years later that I’ve been involved in a number of businesses that have had good success and that particular situation was a catalyst for us to engage a business coach (a good one is worth their weight in good), online coaching, an amazing supervisor and getting into a community that is encouraging.

All of these have helped us to move through our failures and treat them as ‘education’ or a ‘learning experience’ and that is the key to turning failure on its head.

Hope this helps you today.

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