Failing is not Falling
Black…. White.
Rich….Poor.
Up….Down.
Left…..Right.
Life….Death….WRONG
We often confuse ourselves with thinking that the opposite of life is death. I’m here to tell you otherwise. The opposite of death is in fact, Birth. In my way of thinking anyways…..
Just like the seasons, as winter draws to a heavy close, and we look around at the bare trees and dull grey skies, birth is only ever round the corner, in the season of spring.
Much can be said for business endeavours, when we have new ideas or projects to conquer. These NEW projects are brought into fruition after perhaps months, maybe years of hard work and effort, a real labour of love. And yet, when that project or idea dies because it didn’t quite take off the way you thought it would - is it really dead and buried?
NO! It lives on. Through failure, we learn, and through our awareness we try again, and it comes back to life. Why do you think they call it the circle of life?
When did we become so afraid of trying to fix something. When did we start buying our way into solutions, as opposed to failing a few times and mastering it. Why are we so afraid to fail, when failure is our biggest lesson? Is it the ego? The sense of pride? Duty even? To get it right first time. Where did our patience and perseverance go, when things don’t work out the way we thought they would from the offset? It took me 10 years to start a business. Each time I wanted to, things flopped. I got scared. And the ideas would go back into hibernation. See what I said there… hibernation, not dead and buried.
I can guarantee that the most successful entrepreneurs in the world are failing ALL THE TIME. But the difference being, they are failing wisely. Well what does that mean? Well it means they would be setting a ratio, for example - “1 in 5 things I try won’t work” or maybe 1 in 10 things - different entrepreneurs will try different things. The one thing you don’t want, is a zero ratio, because well, that would be mean a perfect record. You haven’t tried anything new, and pushed into the innovative curve. Google allows their employs a 70-20-10 ratio. 70% of their time focussed on core business, 20% of their time focussed on side business and 10% on total whim’s, most likely failure.
By not allowing ourselves to fail, we limit the potential of where something else could go. Did you know that YouTube actually started out as a startup venture for video dating. True story! To trial the software, they filmed animals at the zoo… and what they found was that people wanted to watch these funny videos of animals more so than join the dating site. Imagine, if YouTube had stuck with it’s original idea of wanting to create a video dating site, the YouTube that we know today would not have come about. #funnycatvideos
Failure does not equal disappointment. Failure does not mean defeat. Failure is what we use as rocket fuel to propel us forward quicker. It only a construct that we choose to believe. Come into awareness that failure is merely an opportunity for a lesson.
Accept that failure is part of the process. Assign yourself a failure ratio and know that failure is what sparks innovation and learnings.
In times when you do fail, don’t sulk. Disengage from the ego, and let go.
Be ready to pick yourself back up.
Each time you fail, find the good.
“A person who never made a mistake, never tried something new” - Albert Einstein
