Motivational Monday: Failure is Part of Success

by Cultivate | Feb 29, 2016 | Motivational Mondays

“Failure is not the opposite of success; it’s part of success.” – Arianna Huffington

No one likes to fail. Failure hurts. Failure stinks. …but failure is also universal to our human experience. Every person, from the top CEO to the entry-level intern has failed at some point along the way. Hey, no one’s perfect—we all make mistakes now and again.

The best things derived from mistakes? Opportunities for learning and growth. Every success comes because we didn’t quit or give up. We kept going—even when we stumbled or when it got difficult. We picked ourselves up when we fell down; we brushed ourselves off and got back up on the horse.

Success isn’t about perfection; it’s about determination.

Every professional athlete, marketing genius, or industry titan you know has failed at some point. They’ve made an attempt and it went horribly wrong. They’ve had to redo projects. They’ve probably missed deadlines. They’ve lost business or upset their customers. At some point, someone absolutely hated something they did or created.

The common thread? The resolve to keep going. Every great leader regularly learns from their missteps; the opportunity to adjust, learn, and move forward is what drives them. Their resolve is why they’re successful.

So the next time you experience a stumble or a failure, realize it’s a natural part of the growth process. Pick yourself up and look at what you can learn from the situation.

• Walt Disney was told he “lacked imagination.” The Beatles were told “guitar groups are on the way out.” See what you can learn from these 50 Famously Successful People Who Failed At First.
• You have to understand your mistakes to analyze how to adjust going forward—so what you don’t know CAN hurt you. Read: 4 Times Your Company Dropped the Ball and Lost the Lead.
• Study these 5 Marketing Mistakes You Can Avoid. Here’s two bonus tips: 1. Don’t ignore marketing results; and 2. Don’t put all your eggs in one marketing channel.
• Learn how you can improve your email marketing and convert areas of weakness into future strengths.
• Do you review each project post-mortem to analyze what went right and learn from what went wrong? You can learn a lot from debriefing each time.
• It’s an election year, so politics are hot. Check out these Political Marketing Mishaps Which Teach Us Lessons.

Head off mistakes as much as possible, but when you do stumble, look at it as a learning opportunity. Learn new ways to think about your future and move past mistakes by following Cultivate on LinkedIn or subscribing below to receive Motivational Monday updates in your inbox each week.

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