How do you view failure? Do you see it as something negative that you don't want to be associated with or do you see it as something positive? Most people in the world don't like failure. Fear of failure is the main reason why more than 80% of people in the world are not prepared to change their circumstances. Why do people fear failure so much? The reason for this is because people don't understand the dynamics involved in success and failure. Everything we do in life has a right way of doing it and a wrong way of doing it. When we do it the right way we meet with success. Needless to say, that when we do it the wrong way we are unsuccessful. Understanding this is important because it puts failure in its proper perspective and removes the fear around it.
When someone who doesn't understand this dynamic meets with initial failure, he or she often gives up thinking he or she is not good enough or will never make it. But is this really what it is? Does the fact that you didn't make it the first time mean you are not good enough? Does it mean you'll never make it? Not at all! All it means is you have not found the correct path yet! So what do you do next? Go back and find out where things went wrong. Then try again this time employing a different method. If this doesn't work you go back and look at everything you have done so far.
Talk to successful people who have solved similar challenges to the ones you face. Think of what you might have left out and try again. Whatever you do, don't give up. Why do you need to do this? Because, "Every failure, every adversity, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit", says author and mentor to many great men, Napoleon Hill. Failure contains the seed of victory and of success. Failure teaches you what works and what doesn't. When you study the reasons for your failure and learn from it, you'll find the key to your success.
The great inventor, Thomas Edison, knew this truth better than anyone else. It took Edison 8,000 trials to perfect the Edison battery. Afterwards he uttered this famous quote, "At least we know 8,000 things that don't work." All business owners should have that attitude. Every successful person has had to overcome temporary defeat at one time or another. Know this! You haven't really failed until you accept defeat.
Do you envy those who got success easily? Don't! Success earned in spite of earlier failure is so much sweeter than if you would get it otherwise. Those who earn success in this way know the road to success. They are not afraid of losing what they have because they have learned how to become successful. Those that easily achieved success often don't know the road. They got there so quickly that they didn't bother to look around.
Consider this analogy. Two people were traveling to the same destination; one is going by airplane and the other by car. The one travelling by car had a few breakdowns along the way. If you take these two people back to their original position and ask them to find their way to their destination, who do you think is going to remember the road better the next time? Surely it will be the person who had a few breakdowns and spent some time on the road because he had the opportunity to look around. Let temporary defeat no longer be an obstacle. You have many hidden talents, so start working towards realizing your dreams. Don't be put off by the fear of failure. Failure is an ally because it contains the seed of success.
