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Learning from Failure

Let’s get this out of the way – nobody likes to fail. And outside the realm of the plot conceit of The Producers, it’s highly unlikely that under normal circumstances, unless it is part of some greater stratagem, anyone deliberately sets out to do so. Yet every single day, all around us, people fail. And if we’re brutally honest with ourselves, we can likely count ourselves in that number on one level or another.

Entrepreneurs Learn the Most from Our Mistakes

Now before you discard this as some pessimistic drivel, understand that failure is an incredible teaching opportunity, for more often than not, we learn more when we come up short and fail to achieve a goal than when we successfully realize it. The truth of the matter is, humans, as well as most animals, learn by making mistakes, and then correcting the behavior until they get it right.

Of course, we have to acknowledge that in the vast spectrum of mistakes to be made, some have more serious repercussions than others, and indeed, some are so unforgiving as to provide no opportunity to rectify or resolve. But these “world-enders” are by no means as prevalent as far less ominous errors in judgment, analysis or action which do not yield a desired outcome, but may teach us important lessons so that the outcome we are striving to achieve is ultimately affected.

Smart Small Businesses Take Responsibility for Their Mistakes

However, in order to learn from failure, we must be willing to set aside, at least temporarily, the ego which seeks to attach a judgment to the failure, and which is often extremely counter-productive to extracting the necessary lesson. For example, failing to achieve a goal may lead to a natural let-down or disappointment, but dwelling on this or mentally flogging yourself for this failure will ultimately continue to undermine your confidence and ability to bounce back from the setback. It is far more productive to acknowledge the negative emotions, allow the grief process to chart its course proportionate to the magnitude of the failure, and then resolve to make the necessary adjustments to avoid a repeat of the failure.

This last point cannot be overstated. We may do everything in our power to try to bring about a desired outcome and still fail in achieving this, and yet this is ultimately forgivable if we’ve truly given our all and applied ourselves with all diligence and effort. Repeatedly failing at a task or goal, because of a shortcoming in effort or because we are making the same mistakes due to indifference or ineptitude, is far less so. We owe it to ourselves, as well as those around us, to do our best and rise to the occasion, especially when the talent or ability to achieve the goal is in abundance and only our own inaction or lack of focus and clarity is preventing us from the result that we claim to desire.

Successful Businesses Choose to be Victors, not Victims

Those who are honest will admit to failure, and successful entrepreneurs and business people often have a long list of failed initiatives and endeavors; however, what separates them from those who are judged to have failed completely is that they learned from previous mistakes and avoided repeating the same mistakes twice. Part and parcel to this process is avoiding the negative status of relishing our victimhood or wallowing in self-pity and self-recrimination; while it is true that some things are outside of our control and sometimes we must play the hand that we are dealt, we can control our attitude and resolve to find a way to overcome the obstacle(s) that stand in our way.

And for those who insist that they’ve never failed, I would counter that you have in all likelihood never taken a risk or stepped outside of your comfort zone, for if you had, you certainly wouldn’t be batting 1000. Anything worth doing entails risk, and if we are not pushing boundaries we are not growing, which is a surefire recipe for failure of a more obstinate sort – the failure to achieve our potential.

Fundamentally, that is the failure that we should be most cognizant of avoiding at all costs.