It Is Hard To Fail, But It Is Worse Never To Have Tried To Succeed
“The reality is that we’ll all embrace failure at some point in our lives. The goal is not the avoidance of failure, but the proper response to it.” – Kyle Willis (3:17 – 3:24)
Kyle Willis
Marketing from the Roosevelt Room
Why failure can be a positive experience.
For many aspiring entrepreneurs, the fear of failure can become a significant stumbling block. They might think that not enough people would want what they have to offer, or that they might lose all of their resources, among other things. The fear can become overwhelming to the point that they never even try.
However, potential failure is not a good reason to never give it a shot. In fact, mistakes and failures can be great teachers if you’re willing to embrace them and learn from them.
“The only time you truly fail is when you refuse to try again. Failure does not imply you’ve lost, it only means that you did not succeed in that attempt.” – Kyle Willis (6:08 – 6:18)
Regardless of what you’re trying to accomplish, the reality is that you’ll probably fail at some point in your life. While you don’t always have control over failure, you do have full control over how you view it, and how you respond to it. It might be tempting to look at your losses and decide you’ll never try again, but that would be failing a second time.
When you fail, it is important to remain confident in yourself, learn from your mistakes, and try again. Giving up not only hurts you, but all those you could have potentially helped had you not given up. Use your failure as an asset, and help others to avoid the same mistakes.
There are three important lessons to be learned from failure.
If you don’t succeed at first, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It only means that your method did not work that specific time. Walt Disney was refused loans over three hundred times when he was trying to build Disneyland and Sir Richard Branson was a high-school dropout. Yet, they believed in themselves, kept persevering, and ultimately found success.
Failure opens your eyes to new methods you would not have learned otherwise. Carefully examine all the reasons why you failed and the areas where you can improve. You might even gain some insights that end up being of higher value than if you had succeeded, and prepare you for greater success on your next attempt.
Failure shows you who is really in your corner. You’ll find out who sticks with you during the tough times and who you can count on. Also, it is highly likely that someone has gone through similar failures before, and you should try to seek them out and ask for guidance.
How to Get Involved
Join the marketing conversation with Kyle on Facebook in the Marketing from the Roosevelt Room group.