Failure is inevitable. Yet we continually perceive it as something that should constantly be avoided, something that puts us in embarrassing situations that keep us from ever growing. The truth of the matter is that no one can succeed unless they have failed. You can only learn how to be at the top once you’ve explored the bottom. In your business career, don’t lose heart immediately just because you’ve stumbled. Instead, take that as an experience to learn from and grow. Then you might find your failure is success.
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You Failed, Success
This is titled You Failed, Success. I spent out of town and Kerri, I and a couple of our team members went to an event that we were speaking at. We spoke a couple of times and no question, it was the single worst event we have ever seen and I have been part of. Conceptually, here’s the point. The person that put on this event, it was their very first event. They have never done one before. They were way over their skis, but what was absolutely beautiful is this person, this group tried to pull something off at a historic level. The attempt was something to truly applaud. They definitely tried to give it their best, but the reality is even if you ask this person, they’ll tell you it was 100% failure.
Here’s the key. The most successful people in life have failed their way to the top. There is no other way but to fail, you have to fail incessantly. I want you to picture this. I want you to picture a cork board, five feet tall, a few feet wide. I want you to put a big, huge, one-inch by one-inch green pin at the bottom center of the five-foot-tall cork board. At the top of the cork board, I want you to write down your goal. Whatever your goal is, the size of your company in five years, whatever you want to become, whatever you want to do, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care, just put a goal. I promise you one thing, you are going to use some form of a 10:1 ratio of fails and small success.
You fail until you succeed. Click To TweetHere’s what I want you to picture. Most people who try something, they fail, they get embarrassed, they get discouraged, they absolutely look at themselves and lower their self-image. What hopefully the world gets from this person in this group that put on this event is they don’t quit. They come back and they do it again and they do it again. Our first event had 22 people and we served pizza for every meal because we were cheap. We had no idea, it was in a small classroom, no microphones, no camera crews. Today, our events are massive. Our last event had people from five countries, but we kept failing. We just didn’t stop. Hopefully, this person keeps going. Let’s use that as the frame of reference for you to fail until you succeed. You failed, success.
I want you to picture your goal and I want you to understand you are not getting to the top of that goal until you try something and miss. You swing and miss. If you ask somebody to buy something, they say no. You ask somebody if you could speak on their stage, they say no and all of a sudden somebody buys something. As soon as somebody buys something, I want you to move your pin up an inch and a half, and then you go again, and you asked somebody else to buy something and you move it up an inch and a half. You ask somebody to partner with you and they say no. You ask an employee to come work for you, they say no way. You ask your spouse to support you greater, “No, I still think you’re wasting time, get a job.” You keep failing and then all of a sudden, you look back a few months later and you’re up the board four inches. Most people quit at this point, but then you keep failing and you keep failing. All of a sudden, you look back another year later, you’re a foot and a half up the board with only three and a half feet to go.
Here’s the point. Where are you right now in your business career, in whatever you’re doing, on this board? Are you at the very bottom? Do you not even know what you want to do? You don’t even have a pin on the board. Are you three-fourths of the way up the board and you’ve never been more frustrated? Here’s the deal. You can’t stop. I want you to imagine that God planted that seed of your business in you while you were sleeping.
Just pretend and then say, “If I can’t do it for myself, I’ll do it for Him,” or whatever your beliefs are, whoever you go after, whoever you bow down to. Maybe it’s yourself, maybe you’re agnostic like Warren Buffett. It doesn’t matter. Whatever your belief structure is, pretend somebody gave you the vision and they’re counting on you. Like Warren Buffett says, “I don’t know about this God thing,” he hasn’t written it off. He says he doesn’t know but he goes, “Here’s what I know. I do it for the investors. I get up early and stay up late for the investors. I think constantly for the investors, I don’t want to let them down. They’re my family.” What are you doing it for? Then just pretend that maybe God planted the seed in you and you’ve got to get to the top. Here’s what I promise you. Whatever obstacle you have in front of you right now is for a reason. That obstacle was given to you on purpose.
You are not getting to the top of that goal until you try something and miss. Click To TweetLet’s say your obstacle is accounting. You better solve that. You can’t quit your business because you suck at accounting. Let’s go back to the point of this. The only way any baseball player has made it to the hall of fame is because they missed 70% of the time. 70% of the time, they stepped up to the plate, they swung and missed. That’s called a complete failure. Seven fails, three small hits, seven fails, two small hits and maybe a double. Seven fails, a couple of small hits, a home run once in a blue moon. Conceptually, even the greatest home run hitters in the world only hit a home run something like one out of 28 times. Maybe one out of eighteen, I can’t remember. Here’s the key. Where are you on the board and do you understand that you failed success? I hope this helps. Take care.
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