Failure? Not If You Learned Something

© Romolo Tavani

Now and then Facebook does something very cool. This morning when I ramped up to do a little work, my Facebook page came up with a post I shared seven years ago today:

Found a quote from Shakespeare: "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." Okay, it's a little heavy but work with me - think about the things you've tried that didn't work. Just because they didn't work doesn't mean you were wrong to have tried - or better yet, try something new again. Edison said, "I've failed my way to success!"

This is a very short post this morning with just one point:

A new year is right around the corner. As you go into the new year, think about all those challenges in the past that might be making you more cautious than you need to be. It happens to all of us, and before we know it we're managing by the exception. We got burned on a bad decision or something that wasn't up to expectations, so we pull back.

Earlier this week Lori Nordstrom and I announced a one day workshop we're doing before WPPI in February. Lori and I have talked a lot about projects and events in both our careers that didn't give us the results we wanted. However, each failure became a stepping stone to ideas that did work. They just needed a little fine-tuning.

Let's make 2018 your best year ever and put everything you think of as a "failure" on the back burner. There's no such thing as a failure if you learned something to change your approach the next time around. 

There are so many of you loaded with the passion for success, and there are so many of us here to help you achieve your goals! Don't be afraid to ask for help.

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past.
You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it.
You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.
Johnny Cash