Are there things you *know* you could do to get organized, build your business, or take care of yourself?
Are there tasks that have languished on your to-do-list for who-knows-how-long that give you nightmares (okay, maybe not nightmares…)?
Each Tuesday is a chance to get a long-standing item off of your to-do list, OR take on the task that I suggest. The tasks that I suggest will be simple, proactive tasks you can do to optimize your online presence, connect with your people, get organized, love your business, or nourish yourself so you can be at your absolute best.
Ready? Let’s do it!
This week’s task is to begin embracing failure as a fundamental part of building a successful business.
Think about any great athlete. Or a child learning a new skill.
Every athlete’s skill is built on trial and error. A willingness to totally suck at it, go back, analyze, and then try again. My husband was a CAT 2 semi-pro road cyclist before we met (Lance Armstrong and the like are CAT 1). We talked about the hours of training he put in, the studying he did, the analysis of what he did right, what he did wrong, etc.
Think about kids. How they learn. They take a step, fall down, pull themselves up, try again. My daughter is learning to read right now, she sounds out the same words, over and over, in different sentence structures and really, at lightning speed, she is becoming a great reader.
That kind of willingness to embrace and learn from failure is what leads to success.
I know, I know, in our culture of perfection, it can be hard to be curious about, and open to learning from, our failures. But listen. Thomas J Peters and Robert H Waterman Jr. wrote the Book, In Search of Excellence. These two make a living studying companies and individuals who pursue, and achieve, excellence.
Tolerance for failure is a very specific part of the excellent company culture – and that lesson comes directly from the top. Champions have to make lots of tries and consequently suffer some failures or the organization won’t learn.
Here is some inspiration to embrace, and learn from, your failures:
Be willing to fail. The bigger, the better.
Investigate your past failures to see if they are the bedrock of your excellence (I know mine sure are).
Put a brilliant idea into action.
If you fail, celebrate.
And then do it all over again.
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