Opinion: Fail your way to success

By Bryan Golden

Fear of failure is one of the biggest fears people have. Ironically, failure is an integral component of the success process. There are two distinctly different types of failure. Absolute failure is when you give up. Successful failure is when you get back up.

Of course, not everything you attempt works out as planned. When striving for a goal, you will likely discover many ways which don’t work as anticipated. Successful people throughout history have experienced this phenomenon.

It took Thomas Edison 10,000 tries before he finally discovered a workable formula for a commercially viable lightbulb. When asked how it felt to fail so many times, Edison explained that he hadn’t failed at all. Instead, he had discovered 9,999 ways a light bulb wouldn’t work.

Henry Ford went bankrupt twice before his third attempt at a successful automobile manufacturing company finally took hold. R. H. Macy went bankrupt three times before he came up with a successful business model. Dr. Seuss was rejected by 23 publishers before the 24th publisher sold millions of his books.

Most job seekers go through this process before landing a position they want. They fail their way to success by sending out hundreds of resumes. Their goal is to get one or more interviews which ultimately lead to at least one job offer. Then, if the job doesn’t meet their expectations, they have to start the process over again.

You learned to walk by failing your way to success. Each time you fell down, you struggled to get back up. Each iteration of this process taught you muscle control and balance. You ultimately learned to walk because you refused to give up.

There are countless other examples of people who have failed their way to success. Yet, there are also even more people who have failed and then given up. It’s up to you whether you will experience successful failure, or absolute failure.

Here are some strategies to use in order to fail your way to success. First, accept failure as a necessary ingredient for success. Each failure gets you one step closer to your objective. Failure is a learning opportunity which shows what requires adjustment.

After each failure, determine what went wrong and look for ways to make improvements. Success requires continuous learning. Seek to constantly add to your skills and knowledge. Study successful people to determine what they have done right. Learn from unsuccessful people what not to do.

Taking action is crucial for producing results. Always be in motion working towards your objective. Keep trying new approaches until you find a working formula. Get up right away each time you stumble or fall.

Leave your comfort zone. You’ve got to try things you have not done before. When what you are doing is not working, you must make positive changes. This requires venturing into the unknown.

Failure is likely if you take steps which are too big. Big steps are difficult to manage and complete. Big steps should be broken down into a number of smaller, more manageable steps. For example, opening a large restaurant from scratch is fraught with challenges. If you have little or no experience, your chances of failure increase.

Instead, start with a small sandwich shop. As you gain success and experience, you could expand your business. By taking smaller, more manageable steps, failures are more readily recoverable.

Don’t fear failure. Embrace successful failure as essential for goal attainment. Use each failure as the invaluable learning tool it is. The way you fail yourself to success is by getting right up whenever you fall down.

Contact Bryan Golden at Bryan@columnist.com