You are going down!

When you’re new to business, the last thing you expect to hear is that failure is your best friend, but I have to tell you it is! Furthermore, that it's good to fail, and that it’s even better to fail as fast as you can. In some cases too, the more often you fail the sounder an investment you'll make! Let me explain why.

Fail your way to the top!

Failure is good. It’s like fertilizer. It makes you grow faster and stronger, but only if you commit to not quitting.

[box]“Failure is good. It’s like fertilizer. It makes you grow faster and stronger.” TWEET THIS[/box]

Many people sadly become overwhelmed at just the thought of failing in business, so they never try, or they give up at the first hurdle. That’s not a problem as being in business is not for everyone and unless you’re going to accept this and work to overcome it it’s probably best you don’t even start.

Failure sorts the wheat out from the chaff. The fear of it is very real and must be overcome otherwise it will take control and limit what you accomplish. 

Success is often hatched out of adversity or what is perceived as failure; therefore it’s crucial to get things into perspective. It’s not a question of if you will fail; it’s only a matter of when. Failing does not make you a failure, for we are all human, however, not learning and growing from it does. So the most important factor is how you respond to that situation. The only people who are excused from failure are those who never try.

I can think of so many famous entrepreneurs who have failed in business but the example I want to give you, and the one most often used, is of Thomas Edison. When a reporter questioned him about his many failures in perfecting the light bulb, he replied, “I did not fail a thousand times, I learned a thousand ways that it wouldn’t work.”

 It is this defiance of failure – this entrepreneurial attitude – that of a champion, that truly captures the essence of what so may deem as failure. Invaluable lessons are always learnt through what is thought to be failure. And, such learning experiences will continue to be essential to success.

The following ideas may support you through failure or help you change your perspective towards it so that you are able to embrace it as a means of growth in your personal pursuits.

• I never see failure as failure, but only as a learning experience.
• I never see failure as failure, but only as the negative feedback I need to change course in my direction.
• I never see failure as failure but only as an opportunity to develop my sense of humour.
• I never see failure as failure but only as an opportunity to practice my techniques and perfect my performance.
• I never see failure as failure but only as the game I must play to win.
• I am not judged by the number of times I fail but by the number of times I succeed, and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying.

Everyday we make a decision about our attitude to failure. We can take it personally, have it destroy our day or our business, or we can brush it off and keep going. Remember, failure is not the end unless you allow it to be – just as Zig Ziglar said, “Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.”

I hope you'll watch the video and review these attitudes to failure. Use them every time you take a risk, or make a move that results in less than a win. In the comments below, tell me how you deal with failure and what methods or techniques you use to combat it. Let me know what action you'll take as a result of watching this video and reading this post too. I'd love to hear.

Thank you, as always for reading, watching and contributing here. If you found this useful, please share it with your friends!

With love and gratitude – as always,

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JaneFrankland

Jane Frankland is a cyber security market influencer, award-winning entrepreneur, consultant and speaker. She is the Founder of Cyber Security Capital and the IN Security Movement. Having held executive positions within her own companies and several large PLCs, she now provides agile, forward thinking organisations with strategic business solutions. Jane works with leaders of all levels and supports women in security. Her book, IN Security: Why a failure to attract & retain womenin cybersecurity is making us all less safe' is a best-seller.

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