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Why You Should Fail at Something Today

If you failed at something today, good for you!

“Wait—isn’t failure a bad thing?” you ask. We say, “Absolutely not. And try not to look so surprised.”

For many, failure is an important step on the road to success. Even great success stories were born in failure. Walt Disney filed for bankruptcy after his first animation studio went under; today, The Walt Disney Company generates $55 billion in annual revenue. J.K. Rowling was living on welfare when she wrote the Harry Potter series, which was rejected by every publisher that received the original manuscript. Today, the Harry Potter brand is worth $15 billion (J.K. herself, about $1 billion). Even if you don’t end up rich and famous, major failures can prove a valuable stepping stone to something amazing.

Even better, failure doesn’t have to be world-ending to offer an opportunity for growth. Small, everyday failures are just as important as the catastrophes, if not more so, because studying their lessons can prevent future failures. And the best part? It only takes a little time each day to evaluate your failures.

During the last 15 minutes of your day, ask yourself what you failed at today. Be honest! Write it down so you can remember and keep a record of your journey. Next, determine what you learned from your failures. Ask what behaviors you can implement to avoid the same failures. For some positive reflection, repeat this process with the day’s successes. By evaluating your responses over time, you may begin to see patterns that can help you recognize and work with your strengths and weaknesses.

Use those strengths and weaknesses to develop an action plan to create more success stories. Do you succeed when you ask questions? Take regular rest breaks? Surround your monitor with sticky notes? Apply those success tactics to the areas where you’ve been less than successful. You can even appoint an accountability coach to check in with you about your successes and failures, and to ask what you’re doing to foster success with your action plan.

With time, commitment, and patience, you’ll find yourself experiencing fewer failures. And although failures will inevitably happen, you’ll be better equipped to recover from them!

At YES! Your Human Resources Solution, we work to create success stories for our clients. Our friendly HR consultants are on hand to assist with any Human Resources matter, from recruitment and retention, to employee benefits and recognition programs, to HR leadership building. Whatever your question, we have a solution! When you’re ready to build success with a solid HR foundation, just say YES! Let’s schedule a free consultation to discuss how we can best complement your business needs.

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