Do you find yourself fearing your business will fail? That you will attempt something new and it won’t be successful?
Are you pretending to be busy instead of REALLY building your business? If you don’t give your best and it fails, it will be less painful, right?
What if I told you that failure is essential to your success? (Now you’re thinking “this chick is crazzzzyyy!!”) Hear me out before you totally write me off. This WILL make sense, (I hope!).
In life and business, you WILL make mistakes. You WILL fail. You WILL screw things up. That’s inevitable. You have got to be willing to do these things and learn from them when they happen. A willingness to be vulnerable, to make mistakes and to fail is crucial to your success.
“The essence of man is imperfection. Know that you’re going to make mistakes. The fellow who never makes a mistake takes his orders from one who does. Wake up and realize this: Failure is simply a price we pay to achieve success.”
–John Maxwell
Did you know some of the most successful people on the planet have failed tens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of times before they were successful? Some were even told they would fail and to quit before they even got started.
Tomas Edison was told by his teachers he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He went on to invent the lightbulb, but not before he made 999 failed attempts.
Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper job for “lacking imagination and good ideas.”
Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was 4 or read until he was 7. His teachers called him slow and “mentally handicapped.” He went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Should I go on??? I think you get the idea.
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
-Michael Jordan
My point is that every failure moves you toward success. It’s called Failing Forward. See your failures as opportunity. Opportunity for growth. Opportunity to learn something new. Opportunity to do it better next time.
If there is one thing I want you to take away from this it is not to fear failure but to embrace it. Challenge yourself to stare failure in the face and say “bring it on failure, you ain’t got nothin’ on me!!!”
In my Mindset Mastery event on October 4th in Sacramento, you will learn skills and techniques to shut down the gremlin in your head telling you to stay safe and play small. You won’t want to miss this event. For more information, visit www.erinsumm.com/mindsetmasteryevent
