Fail and then Succeed

We have been trained to think of failure as bad, that mistakes are the worst results. But, after 40+ years in business, I can confidently tell you, the best way to really learn, to grow, to impact, is to jump in, knowing failure will come. It is just a step in the process of succeeding.

Back in your school days a 60 on a test was terrible, but the truth is you knew 60% of all that new information. It wasn't enough to be competant yet but it was more than you knew before you started. In any new endeavor, discipline to learn is required, but, it will also take some repetition, some testing of your abilities, some levels of stress, to figure out everything needed to become competent.

I learned to love the period when I started a new job. I always felt like I was drowning, at first. I had to figure out the company culture, the skills needed to empower employees and support customers. I needed new skills to understand the specific needs of the new business. I often had to jump in to problems without knowing everything. I knew I was going to fail, and fail again. I was learning to bob up to the surface despite the wind and waves. Being afraid of failing would not help me. Being afraid to make a decision definitely would not help me. What did help was the determination that when my decision was wrong, I would be diligent to keep working until the problem was solved. Having a plan, gave me courage to try and ultimately succeed. If I fell down, I just got back up,

You will fail. But that is not the last chapter unless you let it be. I worse story would be that you never tried. Whatever, you are doing in your life right now, I want to encourage to learn, as much as you can, and then jump in, be ready to shift if the solution you devise doesn't work. Just keep iterating, changing one little piece, until you get to success. Failure is your greatest teacher so quit fearing it and get going with your dreams.