We have all encountered advice to "don't worry about failure ... that is just one step towards success". I'm certainly not going to write to contradict this advice. In my opinion, it is very good advice. However, most of the time, when this is relayed, there is no context as to WHY failure is so valuable. There are many different ways to fail and I am guessing that few people would commend people on the ability to keep failing the same way over and over. It is very important to learn from the failure. Keep making new mistakes.
Success ... Failure. You are the one that defines those terms. It can apply to the business world, the interpersonal world, family, raising children, or anything else. Still, however you define 'failure', there is a good chance that you will have one or more episodes of failure before you approach what you define as success. What lessons can you pull out of 'failure'?
- What you did right. First thing, recognize that you didn't 'fail' at everything you did. Hopefully you did more things right than on a previous attempt. Recognize yourself for what you did right. Make a list. Analyze them. What did you change from previous attempts to make the outcome better? Give yourself kudos for what you did right. Allow those positive aspects to inspire yourself to work on the next iteration.
- What you did wrong. Where did the weaknesses show up? Did you try to address them as soon as you recognized them? Did a sequence of negative things occur and you only recognized it once it was too far along the wrong path? Were the things that happened universally 'wrong' or would they have been appropriate in other circumstances?
Sometimes 'failures' occur because of others' actions. So, 'you' did not do anything wrong. But, it does no good to blame others even if they did things that led to 'failure'. You are in charge of yourself. You are in charge of your journey. How would you recognize those problems in the future? How could you compensate for those problems? Often, you have to rely on others to achieve your goals. Monitor, analyze, compensate, mentor -- but don't waste the energy on blaming. Rather, understand how to avoid it in the future. - Would a change in process help? Sometimes it isn't something you did 'wrong' -- it's that you did something at the wrong time in the process. You 'rushed' something or you delayed and missed an opportunity. Generally you want to think/plan, prepare, implement, review, revise but there may be sub-processes involved that must be in their own proper order.
- Did you have the right skills to be applied (your own or others)? Certain skills are needed at different times in the process. In the example of starting a business, there are different skills needed when you are putting the business together than once the company is moving along steadily. Actually, perhaps not DIFFERENT skills but a different balance of skills. If you have a great idea and a great business plan then you might get seed money and be able to launch but you need to be able to network and investigate competition and keep track of trends to continue to be viable. "A shark that stops moving cannot live."
- At what point could you recognize you had little chance to succeed? This is a skill that is often a criterion for leadership. Entrepreneurs make mistakes. Leaders make mistakes. People make mistakes. Sometimes you can recover from a mistake. Once you recognize there is no chance to reach your goal, salvage what you can in as good of a way as possible so that you have resources with which to start your next attempt. A long, painful, death may appear to be a good thing because it gives you more time but it may also drain resources that could be better used in other ways.
- Did you wind up the scenario in such a way that you could try again? This is associated with the previous bullet but more a matter of burning bridges. Be honest. Be up front. If you are not succeeding, you will not make people, who have hoped you would succeed, happy by telling them everything is OK when it is not. You will lose trust. Trust and reputation are valuable aspects that are hard to build and easy to lose. Stay honorable and well-regarded.
