Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.
-Richard Branson
I am sitting here today as an absolute failure. I came across a list of things that I was supposed to do last week, where I fail often. Would you mind if I share a few of those with you?
-Experts say you should eat 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Fail. I don’t do this every day.
-My mechanic told me I should never allow my gas tank to get below half full. Is now the time I tell you how many times I have coasted into the gas station on fumes?
-You’re always supposed to do the speed limit-Not going there.
A mentor said to me, all of us fail occasionally. It is not our desire but, “it happens.”
You or I do not want to be known as a failure in life, but the reality is: failure does not discriminate to one person.
We all experience it and we all experience the fear of failure. In fact failure immobilizes a lot of us, myself included.
Fear is not a new concept. None of us likes to talk about his or her failures. So how can we overcome the fear of failure so that it does not immobilize us from moving forward?
Here are 5 ways I have learned to overcome failure.
- Stop trying to be perfect– One of my biggest mistakes is trying to make sure everything is perfect and tried to be perfect. Realize that everyone fails. I lost count how many times I have royally blown it.
- Realize that failure is not final–
Just two years I remember when I totally missed our sales goal. Like it wasn’t just a miss it was an epic fail. My manager at the time said to me, one bad month doesn’t define you unless you let it. History, the record books are riddled with stories of failures. Babe Ruth known as the strikeout king and…homerun king because he realized that failure is not final. Can you imagine if Babe Ruth would have said, I am never swinging the bat again after his first strike out? - Recognize the benefits of failure–
With struggle comes growth. Yes, failing stinks. However take a moment and look back at time when you experienced growth, you more than likely endured some struggle. My mom said, if you touch a hot stove you will learn real fast not to touch it again. Or when you were a young child and learning to walk. You fell down hundreds of times. You fell down but got back up. Another valuable lessons is that failure makes us less judgmental. - Decide to stop comparing ourselves to others. Does your company have sales rankings? How often do you look at them? Guilty! Yes, I am. I was interviewing a top performer at my company and asked him how often he looked at the rankings. “Never”, was his response. I didn’t understand. He went on say comparing yourself to others is the cause of a lot of failure. You see, success is just doing your best. Failure is not making the effort. When you compare yourself with others, you set yourself up for the fear of failure.
- It’s not about you.- Overcoming your own fears can give hope to others. It can show them that if you can fall down and get back up so can they.
Awhile ago I watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee, it’s about an inner city girl who won the national spelling.
One of favorite scenes is when Akeelah reads the poem “Our deepest Fear” Marianne Williamson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwKBxabn4Q
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure….
I invite you to watch this short clip.
In the words of Denis Waitley
“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”
I do hope this post added value to you. If it did I invite you to like, share, comment. Your response is greatly appreciated.
Equip, Educate, Empower, and Encourage others to become better leaders!
Tony Jalan
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