Being a business owner is no walk in the park – just ask Bill Gates... He’s had some major failures during his first foray into entrepreneurship, along with competition and controversies down the road, but now he’s one of the richest people in the world and his company, Microsoft, is one of the most successful.
He survived amidst the odds, and now he’s on top of the world.
Not everyone can match his company’s colossal success, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t try, either.
Like him, and so many other successful people in the world, there will be times when you’ll fail and feel like the world is over because you did.
But what truly separates the successful from the rest is one specific notion: they all embraced their failures.
It can be painful to go through failures, and for sure, you’re probably not willing to go through all that pain again. However, embracing failure is essential not only for your personal growth, but for the growth of your business as well.
So, how do you embrace failure and turn it into your strongest weapon?
How to Embrace Failure in Business in 4 Steps
1. Accept that You Failed
The first step to correcting your failure is by accepting that you made them and that they existed in the first place.
Many of us hang on to our pride that we did nothing wrong, that it was somebody else’s fault that a project failed, it was because of something else that’s why we’re having a bad day, etc. When we’re wounded, we tend to try and find reasons for it other than our own actions – and sometimes it can be the silliest reasons like the weather or the time of the day.
Many of us hang on to our pride that we did nothing wrong, that it was somebody else’s fault that a project failed, it was because of something else that’s why we’re having a bad day, etc. When we’re wounded, we tend to try and find reasons for it other than our own actions – and sometimes it can be the silliest reasons like the weather or the time of the day.
While there can be contributing factors to your failure, most of the time, it’s how we deal with these factors that determine whether or not we will succeed in something that we are doing.
Attitude it a big part of embracing failure.
Be accountable for your actions. If the project you pitched failed because the client did not like your idea or if the product you are selling was a wash-out in the market, take it with grace.
By denying your mistakes and failure, you deny yourself of the chance to find out where and why you failed in the first place.
2. Look at the Failure Objectively
Accepting your failure lets you recognize where you went wrong (and where you went right), and now, it’s time to evaluate them objectively.
Not everything is your fault, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for your failures. Doing so will only make you more prone to this weakness, or worse, will make you more hesitant about your future business endeavors.
Not everything is your fault, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for your failures. Doing so will only make you more prone to this weakness, or worse, will make you more hesitant about your future business endeavors.
List down everything that went wrong, and then evaluate why they went wrong.
Did you not like the idea of the product or service you were putting out but, you didn’t speak up because everyone else seemed to like it?
Maybe it’s time you raised your opinions more.
Did you end up not having enough time because you were micromanaging everything about your business or project?
Maybe it’s time you relax a little and let things fall into place – you may be focusing on the wrong things.
Don’t take your failures – and the people pointing them out – as a personal insult, because it isn’t. There’s embracing your failures, and then there’s overplaying the wound.
We aren’t perfect, but we need to reflect from time to time on where we went wrong and what we can do to fix our mistakes.
By doing so, and by consulting other people, you can form a list of solutions that you can try to fix your failures and turn them to successes.
We aren’t perfect, but we need to reflect from time to time on where we went wrong and what we can do to fix our mistakes.
By doing so, and by consulting other people, you can form a list of solutions that you can try to fix your failures and turn them to successes.
3. Remind Yourself about Your Solutions
When it comes to solving the problems and mistakes that led to our failures, it’s easy to start on that path, but continuing down the road is much harder than it looks. Sometimes, we unintentionally go back to how we were before and make the same mistakes.
Whether it’s pride (“It worked before, so why wouldn’t it work now?”), habits that we have yet to purge ourselves from, an incorrect way of solving a mindset (for example, a controlling person will not change overnight just out of sheer will – it’s a gradual process and continuous reminders to hold back on their behavior), or some other reason, it still remains that we are always prone to slipping back to the pathway we tried to escape from before.
Whether it’s pride (“It worked before, so why wouldn’t it work now?”), habits that we have yet to purge ourselves from, an incorrect way of solving a mindset (for example, a controlling person will not change overnight just out of sheer will – it’s a gradual process and continuous reminders to hold back on their behavior), or some other reason, it still remains that we are always prone to slipping back to the pathway we tried to escape from before.
This can be attributed to our psychological responses. Under stress, we tend to retreat back to the habits that formed our emotion regulation during our growing-up stages, especially in our toddlerhood.
But this shouldn’t discourage you from going back on the right track. Being able to recognize that you’re making the same mistakes that led to your failure is a great way of knowing that you’re embracing your failures and learning from them.
4. Be Brave
Not embracing your failures is sometimes a self-defense for our perception of the world, and solving them can be a huge blow towards our safety zones.
We tend to not recognize and embrace our failures because we believe that it’s a sign of weakness or incompetence – it’s not.
There’s a big difference between being recklessly fearless – which many of those who have rarely experienced failure are – and wisely brave – which those who have experienced, embraced, and learned from failure are.
We tend to not recognize and embrace our failures because we believe that it’s a sign of weakness or incompetence – it’s not.
There’s a big difference between being recklessly fearless – which many of those who have rarely experienced failure are – and wisely brave – which those who have experienced, embraced, and learned from failure are.
Sure, you can choose to not be brave and only stay in the bubble that you’ve created so you don’t fail, but you don’t win in there either.
This is not something that you want to happen, especially to your business. After all, as a business owner, you want it to succeed, but how can you do so when you’re afraid of failing again?
This is not something that you want to happen, especially to your business. After all, as a business owner, you want it to succeed, but how can you do so when you’re afraid of failing again?
Don’t hesitate to take the next step, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone.
As Colin Powell summarizes it, success “is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.” By accepting and embracing your failures wholeheartedly, you are well on your way to learning from them and becoming a better and wiser business owner.
We hope now you can start to embrace failure and become successful in your business.
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