Failing, The Best Way to Win

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Estimated Reading Time: 5 mins

There’s a beauty in failing. For the average person this will be an unpopular opinion, but the truth of the matter is, there’s so much that comes with failing – positively. The only thing you need to do to reap the benefits, don’t give up on you.

There’s a reason why so few people in the world are billionaires. The more the net worth, the smaller the pool of people in that category. Similarly, the less the net worth, the more the people.

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The fear of failing prevents a large number of individuals from following their dreams and passions. Failing itself, divides those who win from those who lose. The journey to success takes a certain kind of person with specific character traits that many do not have. Everyone can start, but these traits will determine who finishes.

It’s a matter of deciding where you want to see yourself. If you truly believe in what you’re doing and are of the mindset that you’re capable, keep moving.

I’ve tried and failed at many things in life, and still being on this journey, there are some momentous takeaways that failing gave me. The lessons learnt, greatly contributed to my successes and without them, success wouldn’t have been possible.

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Failing combined with determination births resilience. I pride myself on this trait but can assure you, it wasn’t always this way. Previously, failure combined with doubt birthed abandonment.

Humans are fragile, emotional creatures and when we fail at something, it can really knock our confidence and ego. This is the point at which people mentally sabotage themselves and discontinue their plans.  Mental toughness, discipline, consistency, and a little optimism can turn failure to success.

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It’s never really about the failure itself and what went wrong. We’ll all experience these situations in life. The deciding factor is how you deal with failure.

Do you see it as an opportunity to learn? Are you brainstorming to rework your strategy for the better? What areas could benefit from improvement and how can those be achieved? Are you investing in research on your areas of weakness?

These are questions that form my bounce back strategy whenever I experience failure. It’s fine to feel down because you’re human, just never stay down. You must get back on your feet and work harder, every time. This is a practice that the majority struggle to achieve.

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Colonel Harland David Sanders, the inventor of the KFC recipe that can be found all over the world today, was retired at 65. After retirement, he travelled all over the US trying to sell his recipe to restaurants.

He was rejected 1009 times. The 1010th restaurant accepted his offer and KFC was birthed.

Many of us may only need to experience failure once, and we’ll give up. Colonel Sanders was 65, travelling by car, and kept on failing. Failure was no hindrance to his goal.

He relentlessly continued until he achieved the outcome, he believed he was worthy of. He believed his recipe was special. Failing repeatedly, was a temporary obstacle until he won.

How many of us would be willing to fail 1009 times if we could foresee, our future outcome. Many would but even with knowing, most just wouldn’t have the fight to persist. We cannot predict the future but if we stop trying, we’ll never know at all.

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What I’ve learnt from Colonel Sanders and other renown inventors and successful business people, is that willpower and mental toughness are vital elements if you want to see progress.

Earlier, I mentioned having a ‘little optimism’. You’re not always going to feel positive, especially when you experience failure so you should never rely on feelings alone. Your discipline and consistency, are what will carry you through.

It’s a commitment to yourself that no matter how you feel, you stay committed and you apply the same level of determination or more, day after day, results or no results. 

It’s tough to do, but it’s how you stay in the race to success. When things go bad, learn from it and strike back with more effort than before. This, is the mindset of Champions.

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Whether you’re failing or have failed, there’s likely to be further disappointments. It’s the cycle of life for us all. We must always be prepared for any eventuality by building up our resilience.

Never wait for bad situations to arise before implementing contingencies. Stay ready by constantly practicing, researching, trying different approaches, pushing yourself, seeking feedback, learning, and reviewing your performance. You must rinse and repeat continuously, regardless of how you feel.

It’s a daily process of improving and becoming skilled in your craft. Become the best at what you do, not because you wish to outshine others, but because the output you produce will be of high quality and you’ll indirectly increase your value. The level of value you have, can influence the reach of your success.

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Confidence is a helpful remedy when it comes to bouncing back from failure. The more you practice, the more you build your confidence. The more confident you become, the quicker you’ll bounce back when things go wrong.

Every time you overcome a period of failure in life, you become stronger. Always persist with unwavering consistency because your survival rate this far, has been 100%. If quitting feels like the only viable option, there’s a message I wish to share with you here before you make that final decision.

Define your life’s season finale by determining the story of every episode. Be part of the minority who may fail, but fail to quit.