“We are programmed at an early age to think that failure is bad. That belief prevents organizations from effectively learning from their missteps”
-Amy Edmondson
3 Strategies to Learn from Failure
Failure is an unavoidable aspect of running a business. Even the most successful of entrepreneurs have their own stories of failure that humbled them and made them into who they are right now. Imagine Walt Disney being told that his work lacked creativity, now his name is synonymous with creativity. Bill Gate’s first company was a disaster, with a product the barely worked.
No one wants to fail, but even the brightest and most clever of people face challenges at some point in their careers. Life is a constant roller coaster. Most of us teeter between our success and our failure. Whatever happens, do not lock yourself into despair. Everyone falls short from time to time. Your ultimate test is how you deal with failure. Remember that you can always learn from failure
Here are 3 strategies to help you learn from mistakes and use the experience to prop yourself back up!
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Accept that failure is a part of life.
Embrace your failure. Do not try to hide it. Failures don’t somehow work themselves out. They take work, so ignoring the problem only digs a deeper pit. Overcoming problems is a big feat in and of itself. If you managed to come back up after failing, be proud of yourself that you were able to overcome it.
Always bear in mind that mistakes are fundamental parts of the human condition. The scenic route on your road map to a better future. Failure is always lurking at the corner whenever we go outside our comfort zone.
Many of history’s most successful people had significant failures as well as accomplishments. What set them apart is how they used that failure into something positive.
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Reflect
You need to be honest with yourself. Ponder deep and ask yourself what happened, where did you go wrong, and why. Learn from your failure in order to avoid an even bigger problem; repeating the same mistake.
Here are three powerful questions to ask in the wake of failure:
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- What lessons did I learn from this?
- What are the three positive outcomes of this situation?
- How has this experience allowed me to grow as a person?
Pondering deeply on these questions can help you see new opportunities that will arise from this defeat.
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Take action and move on.
This last step is the biggest test to see if you can bounce back up from a failure. What solutions do you have to rectify the problem? How can you offset the situation to avoid or lessen the impact of the problem? How do you get things back on track?
Deal with your mistakes head-on and with conviction. Once you overcome the problem in front of you, head on to the next one. Start your next project, look at new ventures or consider a new task at hand. Always remember your hard-learned lessons as you keep moving forward, and you’ll emerge stronger and more resilient than before.
Running a business means that you always have to look ahead over the horizon to search for the next big thing to make your business successful. It is important for you as a business owner to keep learning from failure, that’s why we compiled 3 of the best strategies to learn from failure. But running a business also means that you have to take care of the tedious financial aspects of it. You need a partner that can help take that load off your shoulders so you can focus on expanding new horizons for your business. Lucky for you, we are in the business of helping small businesses!
