By John Paschall, Servant Leader
How Comfortable are You with Failure?
Here we are in September – weather is still hot (no big surprise), no hurricanes or tropical storms are on the immediate horizon (nice surprise) and football is back in full swing (high school, college, and pro – personally speaking – a wonderful occurrence!)
This month, I would like to share with you a topic and an idea that may seem out of place to you. As most of you know, the BBB focuses on how to solve problems for consumers and businesses and on how we can help businesses become better (in many different ways). We are a forward-looking, optimistic group of problem-solvers, resolution-seekers, and goal-achievers. So how odd does it strike you for me to ask you about failure? Pretty odd, I know. But that is my question for you today: How Comfortable are You with Failure? Are you ok with it, or do you avoid it like the plague! The answer to the question is critically important.
What I have come to find out is this: your level of comfort with failure as a person and a business professional will most often be in direct proportion to the level of success you experience – in business and in life. Striking concept! Allow me tell you more. I heard this idea just recently while listening to the Success Magazine CD with publisher Darren Hardy. Darren said that when he first started working at 20 years of age as a real estate agent, he asked a veteran realtor for the very best advice he could share. The realtor told Darren: “Fail – fail big, fail fast, fail often – that is the only way you will ultimately succeed.”
Darren had the same reaction you just did – “Fail? I thought the idea was to succeed!” Indeed, success is our ultimate goal, but the secret here is that when we are completely comfortable with failure, we become confident that no matter what happens we will be okay, and that nothing, NOTHING, will prevent us from reaching our long-term goals. We may have to change our direction and path, but not our decision or destination we intend to reach.
Let me share some illustrations to make this practical:
Fail Big - At one point, when Thomas Edison was in the midst of his 10,000 failed attempts to create the incandescent light bulb, his workshop, with all of his years of work and notes actually burned to the ground…and Edison had no insurance. Edison’s response? (note: response not reaction) “Thank God all of our previous mistakes have been destroyed! Now we can begin again fresh with a new perspective.” Only a few months later, the incandescent light bulb was invented! Why?…because Edison knew how to fail and was comfortable with it. He was NOT okay with ultimate failure – to fail and stop trying – but he understood that failing hard was one of the quickest ways to success, as long as he learned from the failure and kept trying.
Fail Often – In the BBB offices, there is a picture of someone who the world clearly recognizes as a true failure. Here is a summary of this person’s life:
Failed in business twice.
Had a nervous breakdown.
Had a fiancée who died.
Ran for elected office and was defeated…six times.
Following those numerous failures, this person did reach a small level of success…. he became the 16th President of the United States. That’s right – Abraham Lincoln! During his presidency of course, he led our country through one of its darkest hours – The Civil War, ultimately maintaining our Union and helping the nation to begin to bind its wounds – a true failure, right? No. But instead someone who never took their eye off of their ultimate goal and who understood that numerous failures were just some of the necessary steps taking them closer to their goal.
Fail Fast – George had a failure rate in his career of almost 66% (how many of us would keep him as an employee?) In fact, in the history of his field of business he is known as one of the all-time great failures. With a failure rate of almost 66%, his success rate was only 34.2%. Another way to say it is that he had a success rate of only .342. Wait a minute, that number looks like a batting average. Indeed it is! George’s lifetime batting average was .342, actually a tremendous figure, but George is known to have struck out more than almost anyone who ever played in the major leagues…. George who, you ask? George Herman Ruth, Jr., known to most people as Babe Ruth – arguably the greatest home run hitter of all time. Babe never focused on striking out, he just kept swinging and swinging and swinging…. and hitting home runs.
This concept from Darren Hardy truly struck a chord with me – confession time now. For many years, from early in my childhood until well into my adult years, I was not comfortable AT ALL with failure. As a perfectionist, I had a deep, almost paralyzing FEAR OF FAILURE! What that meant is that I often focused on doing what came easy, I avoided new or hard situations where I might fail, and if I did make a mistake, I would do whatever I could to keep people from finding out. That fear of failure actually PREVENTED me from growing and experiencing the success that was available.
What changed? From failing…hard, often, and sometimes fast, I finally figured out that no matter what happened – no matter how painfully I might fail, I would be okay and I could handle it. (My faith in God and the resulting eternal perspective had much to do with that.) When I finally became convinced of this, I lost my fear of failure. Now I see it as just a part of the process on the way to tremendous success. I am not afraid of what might happen if I fail. I now embrace it as a part of the success journey.
That, in fact, is one of the key messages here – the only true failure is the failure to continue to try. Now, truth be told, sometimes as leaders we have to stop banging our head against the same brick wall. I know…. I really do. As tenacious, never-give-up people, we can have the tendency to believe that if we just try harder we will make a situation work…sort of like saying if we just keep doing the same thing we will get different results. Doesn’t work does it? We have to have the tenacity to keep trying and not give up, but we also must have the wisdom to learn from our mistakes and failures…AND TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Sometimes we have to back up, stop ramming our head into the wall, take a breath, evaluate the situation, get counsel from our trusted teammates, try something DIFFERENT, and then experience the success that is on the other side of the wall.
So, my message to you this month as a leader – Go Fail! Fail fast, fail big, fail hard, and fail often! Keep on trying and failing until you are so convinced that NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, you can handle it, learn from it, overcome it, and experience the tremendous success that is waiting for you and your business. Become an experienced failure…just like Lincoln, Ruth, and Edison.
Get out there and continue to build your better business and have a great month!
