Ask any successful entrepreneur about their path and you’ll get the same answer: failure is an inevitable part of the journey. Building a successful company is a long game – not every idea is a winner and not every decision succeeds. But you can learn from experience, gaining wisdom as you build resilience. Here’s how to stay in the game long enough to win, and make the most of failure along the way.
Beginner’s mind
How differently would you run your business if you saw opportunities for growth in each challenging situation – a partner parting ways, a disappointing launch, a period of poor cash flow? A positive outlook can make all the difference, leading to creative solutions when you hit those unavoidable bumps. Steve Jobs later described his 1985 departure from Apple as one of the best things that could have happened, saying (in his 2005 Stanford commencement address) that it freed him to enter one of the most creative periods of his life.
Keep a journal
It’s easy to stew on what didn’t go to plan and forget the unexpected surprises and small wins. Keep a gratitude journal for your business so you celebrate successes large and small, and recognise the key moments that led to your proudest accomplishments. Acknowledging small blessings also helps you see the bigger picture, putting disappointments and so-called failures in perspective.
Review – and renew – your plans often
One underappreciated benefit of failure is that it can point you towards unforeseen possibilities – the plans B, C and D that ultimately lead to success. Entrepreneurs are usually advised to review their business plans at least once a year; why not revisit them more frequently? The moment a prospect or project falls through is an ideal time to reflect on what could have been done better and how you’ll avoid the same mistakes.
Final thoughts
As you set out to earn the reward of your hard work, don’t fear failure – strive to make good mistakes. Think of the journey as a series of experiments where careful decisions have no guarantees and results can’t always be controlled. Aim to fail in new and original ways, a commitment to innovation rather than repeating the same things and hoping for a different result. As the story of Edison’s many attempts at the light bulb reminds us, what looks like repeated failure can simply be an invention with many steps.