5 Ways to “Fail” Successfully

A guaranteed way to fail is to never even try. We’re going to mess up! There’s no avoiding it if we truly want to accomplish our goals! A wise saying that I came across by John Wooden stated, “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”

No one wants to fail, but what if we went into starting something new with the mindset that every mistake will lead us closer to a positive solution? Here are a few tips to ensure that our short-term failures turn into long term success!

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Avoid Analysis Paralysis!

We have a full article on this topic called, “Analysis Paralysis- 5 Ways to Overcome It”. In summary, Analysis Paralysis is when we fear to start something, so we study, ask for advice, do research, etc. until we feel like we’ve become “good enough” to even begin doing what we desire to achieve at.

The reality is this – success comes from experience; experience is earned by doing, mistakes and all. There’s nothing wrong with studying. Heck, we should be continuously learning new skills since things are constantly changing! But we need to put what we learn into practice! Mistakes are going to happen. It’s normal and it’ll always be a part of the learning curve.

Openly admit your mistakes and learn to analyze each one!

How can an issue be resolved if we refuse to admit that the issue even exists? It’s okay to admit when we don’t know how to do something. Nobody knows everything, and everyone has something that they know nothing about. One way to fail successfully is to transform mistakes into learning opportunities: Why did this go wrong? What areas could I have made improvements to that could have helped this situation? Is there someone more experienced in this area that I can discuss this issue with?

Very few of us like to admit when we’ve messed up, but it’s going to happen. What makes the mistake worth it is when we can take a moment to figure out what went wrong in the first place. For example, I hate to admit that since I started blogging, I believe that I’ve wasted a few hundred dollars on careless advertising. I did not understand the term “targeting audience” because I believed that my content would help EVERYONE! On top of this, I was carelessly advertising on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google ads with this mindset! See how that can add up quickly for nearly no positive results? 

Now I could have just said, “Oh, well this isn’t working. I’ve wasted too much money and time, so this obviously isn’t for me.” Fortunately, I had some mentors share their struggles and show me that I’m not alone in making mistakes and that I have to analyze ways to fix these issues. 

Hold yourself accountable for missteps, learn from it, and readjust. Small fixes today will compound into bigger and better improvements later.

Don’t be ashamed to ask for help!

Name one type of legit business that is not time-consuming in some shape or form. I would say, “I’ll wait”, but who has that type of patience? As our businesses or projects continue to grow, it’s going to become too overwhelming and we’re going to need to ask for help if we wish to continue growing!

This can come in a variety of ways. Maybe with all of your projects, the finances have become a challenge to manage so you need someone to help manage your books. Maybe your social media groups have reached a size where you need a moderator to help answer questions. Heck, in my case, I’ve started creating courses that have cut into my blog post schedule, so I decided to accept guest posts to help me reach my monthly minimums!

Help can come in so many forms, and delegations can save so many hours in your day! I understand wanting to have full control over our creations, but we all can only handle so much on our own. If we want to grow, we have to work together. If we try to do it alone, we will burn ourselves out!

Have you already started delegating some of your work to others? Please comment in what ways you were able to divide up your workload!

Overcome Imposter Syndrome!

This tip might be one of the hardest to conquer because it involves increasing and promoting our own self-worth. For example, if you wish to call yourself an “Amateur Photographer” when you’re first starting out, fine. Just know that there will come a day (sooner than later) when you’ll need to drop that “amateur” part and replace your title with “Professional Photographer” if you wish to push yourself to the next level.

There is no automatic achievement to say once you have leveled up. It doesn’t matter if you have a degree or not. It doesn’t matter if your family or friends consider you a professional anything. You have to put in the work, gain the experience, and show the world what you are made of while still holding the confidence that you have earned that title through hard work, dedication, relentless learning, and yes, trial and error.

One question that may commonly arise is, “How do we know when we’ve become an expert at something?” That is a very broad area to cover and it depends on each of our own definitions of “Expert” or “Professional” and what experiences we have to show for it.

For example, raise your hand if you’d consider yourself an expert at basic math (like 2+2)…or driving a car…or preparing a basic lunch. We tend to relate expertise to things that may be at a Ph.D. level of study when in reality, we just need to have enough knowledge to be able to explain something back in an understandable manner to be considered an expert at it. I could be an expert at teaching someone how to make a peanut butter jelly sandwich but a rookie when it comes to creating a peanut butter cheesecake!

Acknowledge your skills and go for it! Every life lesson and mistake has prepared you for this new level of your life! Check out our post “Analysis Paralysis- 5 Ways to Overcome It” for more tips on this subject.

Acknowledge that things happen for a reason!

When I graduated from college, I had an extremely difficult time trying to start a career as an Animator. Because my preferred applications were being denied again and again, I decided to apply for a Sales position in Orlando, Florida to at least help place me closer to the job market. Please check out “Work for Your Passion, Not Just for a Paycheck” for the full story.

In summary, the Sales position triggered a Social Anxiety attack. I ended up quitting this job a few weeks in. The day I left, one of the managers saw on my resume that I had a B.F.A in Computer Animation and recommended that I looked into Content Marketing instead.

I ignored this advice for a few months until I was presented with a recommended course from Udemy about Content Marketing. This led to another video about Copywriting, which encouraged me to start exploring writing opportunities. Thanks to my search history, I soon started seeing advertisements for a free blogging course by “It’s a Lovely Life.” This is how this blog finally came to be.

It’s so easy for us to look back on our mistakes and desperately wish that we never went down certain paths. The thing is, had I not gone down that path, many of the opportunities that arose from that experience most likely would not have come to be. Our missteps are often the stinky fertilizer that helps new opportunities to bloom and flourish. The bad times suck now, but take those lessons and use them to help the future you grow! 

Now let’s hear from you!

In what ways have you transformed a mistake into an opportunity? What lessons did you learn from the experience? If you are wanting to pursue something new, what obstacles are you anticipating? I will love to read your stories in the comments below!

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And last but not least, remember to just live your life one story at a time!

Take care,

Kyndall Bennett from Kyrabe Stories

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