Are you afraid of failure?
I am.
I can’t tell you how much energy I’ve spent over the course of my life trying not to fail.
From an early age, we are generally taught that failing is bad and success is good. At least, that was the message I got. I don’t recall anyone touting the benefits of failing or not getting it “right.”
And thus begins a journey for many of us, of trying desperately not to fail, embarrass ourselves, or otherwise look stupid.
Being historically risk-averse, it still surprises me that I decided to start my own business. There are so many ways in which one could fall flat on one’s face as an entrepreneur.
Which has gotten me thinking about what, exactly, constitutes failure?
Even the dictionary definitions are somewhat vague, including, “lack of success,” “nonperformance of something due,” and “a person or thing that proves unsuccessful.”
Hmm… not much clarity there.
Ok, fine. If you’re Boeing, and the plane fails to fly, we could clearly say that is a “nonperformance” issue.
In day to day business, there are so many things that don’t follow the script that someone has created, but that doesn’t mean they’re actually failures.
And while frustrating or disappointing, “failure” is critical to learning and innovation.
In his book, Creativity, Inc., Ed Callum (Co-founder of Pixar) says that:
“Failure is a manifestation of learning and exploration. If you aren’t experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it. And, for leaders especially, this strategy – trying to avoid failure by outthinking it – dooms you to fail.”
Here are three of my takeaways from the book on how to reframe failure to overcome it :
- There is a difference between a project failing vs. being a failure. These are inherently two very different things. A project not yielding desired outcomes is not a reflection of your value or worth as a human being.
- Think of the cost of failure as an investment in the future. Is it fun to fail? No. But viewing learning from failure as leading you towards success is freeing. It creates space for a more creative and humanistic environment.
- Embrace problems as part of the process. To plan so meticulously and obsessively to avoid problems or errors, creates problems of a different sort. There is more time to get attached to a particular process or outcome (been there, got a few T-shirts), making it harder to get unattached and pivot later when necessary. And, digging your heels in may mean that you are kicking the can down the road – a problem will need to be addressed eventually. Because problems are part of life. As Ed says, “You cannot plan your way out of problems.”
Let’s look at a real life example for reframing failure:
In 2020, I launched a program and got, wait for it… two people signed up. I pushed the start date to 2021 with the goal of signing up additional participants. When the 2021 date rolled around, I was holding steady at two people and I ran it anyway.
Some might say that hitting only 20% of your goal is a failure. And in many businesses, an 80% miss on target would certainly not be deemed a success.
If you’re Boeing, a 20% success rate doesn’t instill confidence in your ability to keep me safe on my next flight. And we can probably all agree that a 20% success rate in Boeing’s case could be considered “nonperformance.”
In my business, in this instance, however, I could shoulder the risk. And while outcomes were different than I envisioned, there were plenty of upsides.
So do I see it as a failure? I’m going with a confident and affirmative “No.”
First, it was an opportunity to grow as a person. I put myself out there in a different (read: uncomfortable) way and stretched myself in new ways.
Second, I learned a lot about email marketing and program launches, among other things. All valuable information that has been leveraged in the intervening years.
Third, the two people who signed up will tell you that it was fabulous. In the end, we all agreed that it turned out just perfectly and the way it was meant to. 🙂
The next time you are heading down a path that looks or feels like failure, view it as a pit stop along the road to success, one that fosters learning, growth, creativity and new perspective.
