How Have You Failed Your Way to Success Lately?

by Matthew Best

I have a colleague who once set a goal to fail more than he had in the past. You read that correctly - he wanted to fail more.

You may be wondering if my colleague lost his marbles. No, not at all. It's the idea that we fail forward to success.

There is the famous story about Thomas Edison. Edison invented the light bulb, but it took him over 10,000 attempts to get it right. When asked by a reporter about those 10,000 "failures," Edison responded that they weren't failures at all - he just figured out 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb.

I can't tell you how many partnerships I've tried to put together over the years. The vast majority fail, if they even end up making it off the ground at all. That's ok though. I never expected to hit the jackpot with a successful partnership the first time out. I had much to learn about partnerships. I'm getting much better at understanding how not to create a partnership.

The biggest obstacle you will probably face to failing forward is your own perseverance. Edison must have had an abundance of perseverance. If this is an area that is lacking for you - work on it - it will be worth it.

So how have you failed on your journey of success today? If you aren't failing, you aren't trying something new. And if you aren't trying something new, you are stagnant and your business is serious danger.

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