A little more about learning from failures.
1.) Knowing your outcome is key, but you must also make adjustments along the way. It’s rare you will ever get somewhere without obstacles. Think of a pilot flying from New York to Hawaii. They know where they want to go, but they don’t fly in a straight line to get there. They’re off course 80% of the time, but they use their tools to make small changes along the way and always end up where they want to be (well, usually).
2.) Don’t be afraid to quit a project that isn’t working out. You took the right action by ‘trying’ an idea, but if after evaluating you see it has poor ROI or isn’t connecting with your audience, don’t waste more time on it hoping the world will come around. Learn from your experience and start something new, or rewrite your strategy. Study your metrics and listen to your audience.
3.) Remember success is the result of good judgment, good judgment is the result of experience, and experience is usually the result of bad judgment. The past doesn’t equal the future, so learn from your failings and adjust your thinking. To repeat the same process expecting different results is the definition of insanity, don’t get trapped there.
A great historian Arnold Toynbee once said:
“Nothing fails like success.”
What does that mean exactly? Well, if you consider the challenges you’re facing, you might just be using an old approach that isn’t equal to the challenge. In other words, when we have a challenge and the response is equal to the challenge, that’s called success. But once we have a new challenge, the old, once successful response no longer works. That’s why it’s called a failure.
We have to examine our paradigms (our perception), our tools, our skills to determine if we’re approaching the problem in the right way. As a first step, we may even step back and make sure we’ve correctly defined the problem. Then we need to see if, based on the evidence of results or lack of results, if we need a new approach.
As you ponder your challenges, consider if you need a new mindset, a new skill set or toolset. You may need to adjust your view, try a different perspective or a new way to think about it. Then you may need to acquire some new skills or tools to tackle the problem. Whatever the case, you may need to find a new model to drive success. This can be an exciting proposition because you will most likely find new growth and development in the process—this is success!
Remember: nothing fails like success. Be vigilant and be ready to continually learn and adapt to new challenges, which will surely come your way.
Secret to Success, is Failure video:
