In 2018 there were 2,952 Olympic athletes competing in PyeongChang, only 103 gold medals, and therefore 2849 failures.
An average Nascar season has 36 races and 32 full-time drivers… a total of 1,152 potential event/winner combinations. But in the end, there can only be 36… which leaves 1,116 failures.
Many won’t win a single race. 36 attempts, 36 failures.
Of course… those who don't reach the podium's top step will “redefine” their personal successes and failures. There are countless wins and losses we don't see.
It’s estimated that 8 out of 10 small businesses eventually fail and the average close rate for salespeople is only 1-3 out of 10.
We often fail to give our kids the best advice… probably more often than not.
We fail to make the right purchasing decisions, or to choose the healthy option.
Everywhere you look people are failing and yet we survive.
Life is a series of course corrections.
As an entrepreneur, your first ad will fail, your first blog post, sales funnel, or email campaign… they'll all fail. Your entire first endeavor may fail. Possibly (or probably) your second and third as well.
This is my fifth serious blog, and I’ve lost count of the failed strategies behind them. I've failed at network marketing, freelance sales, e-commerce and like millions of others… I've failed at getting myself to the gym as well.
It’s just not that big of a deal… because it’s not as permanent as the word suggests. And, it’s never a reason to quit or NOT try again (or take a chance in the first place). What’s really the worst that's going to happen?
Rejection? Another failure?
Finding out you're not as good at something as you thought you were?
Financial loss?
Sure… those things are possible.
If the risk is really big, there's even a rare chance of going broke and losing everything. Not good… but probably not as bad as imagined either. Certainly not the end of the world and it's definitely not a reason to tip-toe through life miserably afraid of making mistakes.
There are many who have lost it all, lived to fight another day and came out better for it.
Easier said than done I know, and every situation is different… but I am speaking from experience. And, while not desirable, it is empowering.
Failure at that level rarely occurs simply because someone takes a chance. Usually they're exhausted with their current situation and in desperate need of change anyway. Facing failure, in some form, is probably inevitable… maybe even necessary.
How many times has someone said when the dust settled, failure was the best thing that ever happened to them?
Unless it’s life or death… failure just isn't that important and we give it far more credit than it deserves.
Success is less about failure than it is about learning how to deal with it when it happens.
In fact… the word failure is misused and needs to be redefined as “learning”. In that context, you can't fail (according to the traditional meaning)… you can only quit.
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