“Failure Breeds Success – If You Learn From Each Failure”
By: J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr., Founder & Chief Executive of J. G. Ebersole Associates and The Renaissance Group ™
Many readers of this article may ask how failure breeds success? Others will ask, “Doesn’t failure breed more failure, a sense of loss, or a loser mentality?” And I welcome the inquiry and the chance to respond because I believe there is more to learn in our failures than in our successes. In my opinion, there is a lesson to learn in each failure we experience.
Did you know that Thomas A. Edison discovered 1,500 ways NOT to make an electric light bulb? Do you remember some local politician by the name of Abraham Lincoln, who lost several state elections before being elected President? And what about Michael Jordan, who was cut from his high school varsity basketball team his sophomore year? These are some real life examples that the true measure of a person is not that you fail at an endeavor, but what you do after that failure.
As I reflect back over my professional career that began in 1970 and my years in private consulting practices as a business consultant since 1982, I see real confirmation in the belief that life’s blunders teach us lessons and how to recover. And being willing to fail can provide real benefits to your business. You may recall a famous quote from IBM’s Thomas Watson, Sr., “The fastest way to success is to double your failure rate.” Or another quote from Rob Goldberg, CEO of Plump Jack, “People who don’t fail on a daily basis are not innovating, and my guess is their businesses are not growing that fast.” This seems to be just the opposite of more prevalent conventional thinking in business today.
In my consulting and coaching work, I urge clients to look for positive things even when disastrous things occur. I ask them to identify the lesson(s) learned from the failure and to point out the value gained from the risks taken. Yes, failures happen every day and it does hurt. My observation is that just when you are feeling at your lowest, that is the time to remind yourself that life and business lessons are usually learned from a view at the bottom. It will take courage to understand why you failed and also some solid thinking to make sure the same failure does not happen again.
Although nobody wants to be a failure, it can be said that there's no better education for an entrepreneur than failure. Even people who go to the most elite business schools in the world do not get their real education there. What they get there is the opportunity to build relationships. Going through an entrepreneurial startup is what teaches you to have whatever it takes to get through whatever you need to go through to build a business.
What lessons are learned by failure? Here are a few.
+ How costly it is if you take yourself out of the business. If you fail, you have to bounce back.??
+ If you fail once, you need to get back up and try again. Unfortunately, human beings tend to take something from the past, try it and see it did not work, and then start believing their chance of success is greatly diminished.
+ The biggest hurdle to bouncing back from failure is self-doubt. The biggest hurdles for success are internal and ones we create.
+ When experiencing failure, remember why you started your business, because your passion for your business and its success will help see you through failure.
+ Failure does not automatically mean you must or should close your business. You will have setbacks and the challenge will be to get beyond those situations.
Learning how failures can be transformed into success is very valuable. If you would like to gain that valuable resource, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at: www.businesscoach4u.com or by email at: jgecoach@aol.com
“Failure Breeds Success – If You Learn From Each Failure” - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 “Failure Breeds Success – If You Learn From Each Failure”
|
| |
Many readers of this article may ask how failure breeds success? Others will ask, “Doesn’t failure breed more failure, a sense of loss, or a loser mentality?” And I welcome the inquiry and the chance to respond be...
|
|
Learning From Failure
|
| |
 I haven't written much in the Failure series lately, but I've got a doozy or two coming soon.
|
|
Failure - What if there was no such thing?
|
| |
I am sure you have heard the question "what would you do if you could not fail". Was your answer - there is no such guarantee so why bother. How about if I tell you that there is no such thing as failure - then what...
|
|
Failure and Risk
|
| |
Why failure and risk should be required in your business and your planning!
|
|
The Truth About Failure
|
| |
Failure is simply a matter of perspective. Discover how to operate from an empowering mindset and turn your road to home business success into a journey of excitement and accomplishment.
|
|
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
