Have you ever set out with tremendous enthusiasm to accomplish a goal and fallen flat on your face? If the answer is yes, then great! You are moving in the right direction. If the answer is no, then you don’t have a perfect relationship with the truth, and that’s another blog. I say you are moving in the right direction not because I am pro-defeat or like getting it wrong but because I understand the process of success.

Everyone wants to succeed. No one sets out to fail. I’ve never said, “Right, guys, we are going to take on this project, and my whole objective is to fail miserably.”  That would be wild. No one would ever follow my leadership or want to work with me. It’s not in us to want to fail. However, that does not change the fact that sometimes we die. Probably far more often than we would like to admit.

One of my pet peeves is when organizations talk about their road to success and act as if they never got it wrong. We walk away feeling like, “Wow, I’m not even sure if they know how to get it wrong.”  As if everything they have ever tried worked perfectly. I would rather see the bumps and bruises. When they went way over budget, taking that risk didn’t work. When they hired someone who was supposed to be the best at what they did, only to find out they were only good at talking about how great they were. When they had that “sure thing,” it was sure alright, sure to fail. As I write these things, I’m laughing because I think I’ve done each one of these things.

Why would I instead see the bumps and bruises? Is it because misery loves company? No, I’m not miserable. I love what I do. Is it because I’m negative? No, I’m a positive person. I see hope and potential in almost everything. So, WHY THEN? BECAUSE IT’S REAL.

Let’s face it: people who succeed do it on a trial-and-error basis. If you are a natural leader, you are not risk averse. You’re willing to take a chance. By not,  you may have some success, but it won’t be much and not significant.

The reason they call it risk is because it might not work. That’s why we learn to take calculated risks. We don’t want to go willy-nilly into projects, acting as if it doesn’t matter and calling that adventure. That not adventure is just plain stupid. It doesn’t change that no matter how well you’ve planned, calculated, or thought it through, it could still fail and, in some cases, will fail.

Failure stings! It’s not fun, it’s painful, and it isn’t brilliant to act like it isn’t. However, that’s what makes it such a great learning opportunity: You’re motivated to figure out what went wrong, what you could do better, and what needs to change by the desire not to get stung again.

My wife is constantly hounding me to put sun tan lotion on when we are out in the sun. If she’s said it once, she has said it a thousand times. She tells me I’m going to get burned; I tell her I tan very quickly, and she tells me that’s not the point, and in my stubbornness, I go without. Then, without fail, Hello, Mr. Lobster. Now, I have to say that was when I was younger, and I’ve gained some wisdom, most of which is I LISTEN TO MY WIFE! I am motivated now to wear the sunscreen, not because of the constant appeal from Janae, but because the last time I got burned, it was so bad it made me sick. The pain of that motivated me to learn what needed to change.

So, Failure is a part of success. The more people I read, especially biographies, the more I find that great leaders allow their mistakes to be their education. They learn from Failure.

“Failure is just the opportunity to begin again, except this time more intelligently.”

                                                                                 -Henry Ford

There are things we should let Failure do for us and things we can not allow it to do.

IT CAN’T…

1.  Steal our confidence. If we look at Failure as final or fatal, it will explode in our lives as insecurity.

2. Failure can paralyze our purpose if we see it as an obstacle we can’t overcome. It can stop us in our tracks.

3. Lose faith in ourselves. Just because something you have done fails doesn’t mean you are a failure. Just don’t quit, or you will be.

IT CAN…

1.  Teach us new ways to try something.

2. Produce creativity and innovation…ie.  Thomas Edison.

3. Be stepping stones to our goal.

As we set our sights on the goal of success, some of our steps will be certain, but others will take you right off the path. So, as we take the journey and make a mistake or fail, let it teach us how to succeed. As we let our Failure be our teacher, we will arrive at success because we even allow mistakes to improve us as a people.

Let’s set our goal to win and let our failures teach us how.