The Fine Line between Failure and Success

From the time we are very young, we are taught lessons about success and failure.  We’re taught that success is good, and failure is bad; that success is the result of hard work and failure, the result of laziness.  We are rewarded for our successes – prizes, parties, trophies, food, and money.  But if we fail,
there are no rewards.  We are left with our bad feelings, our negative judgments of ourselves and others, and often without hope.  We are told that we should learn from our failures, persevere and the next time we will succeed. 

As I mature and grow in business (an un-ending process), I realize how important and valuable failure is, and how imperative it is to ones success.  Failure is a daily occurrence, and that gives us the gift of knowing where things are compromised or not working as designed.  In the world of science, failure is not viewed as a barrier, but as a tool for discovering the ultimate solution.  Without failures we can’t know what really works, or experience true success.   It has been said that winning without struggle is not really winning.  It has no depth, no meaning, no value – for it is in the struggle that we grow and expand ourselves, becoming more than we ever imagined.

I recently experienced a failure in business that one might say is significant.  It afforded me all the self criticism and judgment one could imagine, along with guilt and shame.  But it also gave me gifts – a gift of humility, a gift of allowing someone to help me, a gift of being told that in spite of the failure (which by the way, is done and over), I am a remarkable, talented and successful business woman.  It gave me important lessons for my future, as well as hope for what is to come.  I learned that I am not defined by the failure, but rather that the failure is just a part of the mix.

Today, and every day, I embrace my failures.  The opportunity as I see it is to strengthen and support the processes and systems I use so that I may ultimately achieve the success I desire.  With each failure, with each risk I take, I get a little closer to that achievement. The road is filled with many bumps, turns, and occasionally a road block.  But bumps can send us flying out into the sky, on a fabulous journey, which we only begin to understand when we land.

How have your failures enhanced your business?  What successes have you had that you can attribute directly to earlier failures?