Fail is a painful 4-letter word to most of us, but if we allow it to, that word can provide us with the rewarding 4-letter word; Grow. ‘Failing into Success’ may be a foreign concept to some of you, but I believe that it is our greatest opportunity to grow and become more successful.
In my book Inspired Selling I write about a few ‘kicks in the butt’ that I received. I also write about how most of them did me more good than a pat on the back. A pat on the back is very important, but the moments of humility, hurt and anger from failing became valuable lessons and teachable moments. I have learned to embrace the idea that there is upside to every downside.
Failing is never fatal! If we approach our failures with a determination to overcome the obstacles of failure, we can grow from them. Lessons learned from failure have a tendency to get our blood flowing a bit more than nice wins. If we channel that energy into positive action, we can recover from the failure and actually achieve success beyond what we ever had.
A close friend of mine, Alana Nichols, failed while trying to perform a flip on her snowboard, broke her back, and presumably ruined her athletic career, not to mention changed her life forever. Alana was 17 years old at the time and destined to be a world class, scholarship earning softball player. So, from a wheelchair she needed to recover from her failure and reinvent herself. She did and she has! A 3-time Paralympic gold medal winner in two sports, Alana will be rowing for gold in Rio as a flat-water kayaker. Her broken back taught her perseverance. Her gold medals were terrifically rewarding. Her failure was a steppingstone to success and now she wants more.
In my mentor John Maxwell’s book, Failing Forward, his subtitle is ‘Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success’. In one of the topics he asks this question: ‘Is your past holding your life hostage?’ John refers to a situation that golfer Arnold Palmer had to overcome after a disastrous final hole in a tournament at Rancho Park Golf Course in Los Angeles. At the course there is a bronze plaque that reads: ‘On Friday, January 6, 1961, the first day of the 35th Los Angeles Open, Arnold Palmer, voted Golfer of the Year and Pro Athlete of the Year, took a 12 on this hole.’ Can you imagine trying to get past that? Palmer obviously did not let that failure cling to him as he went on to have a phenomenal career and is credited with changing the way the game of golf is played. Not only do you have to grow from failure but after that growth, you need to learn to put failures behind you.
If you look around you will see countless individuals, teams, companies and countries that have worked hard to achieve rewards and success. If you look again awhile later, not all of those individuals and entities are still putting in the time and energy required to continue to achieve success. For whatever reason, people very often decide to relax and rest on laurels. That in itself can hinder progress and derail success.
The pats on the back, the trophies, the awards, and the certificates of achievement are almost always earned and feel really good. Who doesn’t like winning and receiving those awards? And, they most always build confidence and provide momentum that should help us do even more. We should never take our foot off the accelerator when rewarded and awarded, but instead try to achieve a bit more so that momentum is never lost. That is not easily accomplished! It takes rigor, discipline and often just plain hard work.
Failing into Success is not an easy process. You must first learn to grow from your failures and mistakes. Secondly, you must learn to move past your failures and not let them define who you are. And lastly, when you have learned to grow and move past your failures to earn success, you can’t allow that success to stop your growth or drive.