Many people are terrified of failure. And yet there are some that have failed to colossal proportions but are somehow able to pick themselves up and move forward. As strange as it may sound, many wonderful things can be born out of failure, and success rarely happens without it in some varying degree. As Drew Houston, Co-Founder of DropBox put it, “Don’t worry about failure, you only have to be right once.”
“Failure Is Success In Progress” – Albert Einstein
This statement is so beautifully put. Any challenges that you experience along your path will someday just be a step along the way to the success that you eventually achieve. Seth Godin, Founder of Squidoo has been quoted as saying, “The only thing worse than starting something and failing, is not starting something.”
Examples Of How Startups Use Failure To Fuel Their Success
Most entrepreneurs that have taken a chance on their start up likely have some experience with failure and have also discovered how to take that experience, learn from it, use that learning to modify their business model, product or processes and then try, try again. Anyone who ventures out there with a start up and then packs it all in when they fail for the first time didn’t have the true entrepreneurial fortitude to begin with. Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter is quoted as saying, “Timing, perseverance and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.”
How To Learn From Your Mistakes Early On
Even though we have now professed our love of failure…let’s also note that the earlier you can turn it into your success, the better. Failing and then learning from it, bouncing back to modify your approach and then utilizing the lessons you have learned from that failure to proactively move forward is the road to take to your success.
Why Failure Shouldn’t Be Stigmatized As A Bad Thing
People who make fun of someone’s failure are just jealous! Boy do they wish they could fail like you! All kidding aside, anyone who puts a stigma on failure as a bad thing, has likely never had to (or has been too afraid), to work hard to build anything from the ground up. The process of failing usually forces improvements to be made that could prevent worse problems from happening in the future.
Why Every Person Needs To Fail At Some Point
There are many reasons why it is probably good for every person to experience failure at some point; not the least of which is so that they are able to fully appreciate it when their success is finally achieved. But even more importantly is that if a person reaches success without any failure; then they likely weren’t reaching high enough and were probably capable of achieving much, much more.
While failure is an ultimate motivator, in the lifespan of a startup – the margin for error is too small. Here’s how to avoid costly hiring mistakes that can set your progress back dramatically.