Day 7: Failing Forward

Today we are going to talk about how FAILURE is key in success! Now I know this sounds funny and NOBODY likes to fail but in order to succeed you are going to have to fail. There will be times as a leader that you will fall flat on your face, there will be times when you have coaches quit, there will be times when you don’t reach your goals. All that matters is that you continue to move forward. You pick yourself up and you keep going. If you want it badly enough you will do that.

Today we are going to talk about the 7 abilities you need to Fail Forward.

1)      Reject Rejection. You aren’t a failure, you just made a mistake or missed something. You have two choices when you fail you can internalize or externalize. People tend to blame themselves when they fail calling themselves names. People who externalize blame external events and do not lose self esteem. Take responsibility for your actions, but don’t take it personally

2)      Failure is only temporary. You have to believe that things are going to get better! Remember the song by Shania Twain called UP? Up up up can only go up from here! You have to believe that you have to understand that this is TEMPORARY! Do not FORCE yourself to stay in this hole your whole life!

3)      See failure as isolated incidents. Failure is a momentary event not this life long epidemic. It’s not personal. If you want to succeed, don’t let single moments distort your view on who you are. Failure does not define you!

4)      Keep your expectations realistic. Approach each day with reasonable expectations and don’t get butt hurt when things don’t go perfectly. Life is NOT perfect. Also do not set yourself up for failure. FYI Rome wasn’t built in a day.

5)      Focus on your STRENGTHS. So many times people focus on what they CANT do rather than what they can. Work on your weaknesses but do not dwell on where you are lacking. If you aren’t very good at webinars work on it but don’t devote all your time to doing just that. The best bet for failing forward is to develop and maximize your strengths. Maybe you are a really good listener who people trust! GREAT develop relationships with people!

6)      Change up the way you approach achievement. Don’t just have one plan, and think that is it. There are 26 letters in the alphabet use them!! When I was preparing to go Emerald, I felt stuck. I needed one more person to help me rank advance but it just seemed like I was going no where. I was exhausting all my avenues, but finally it clicked I found a new plan and was able to reach my goal. Just because plan a isn’t working doesn’t mean it’s a failure.

7)      Bounce back. The key to bouncing back is your ATTITUDE. Keep moving forward no matter what. Just because you fail, doesn’t mean you are a failure!

I used to be SO embarrassed when I was failing. I wanted to see me as perfect especially those I was leading on my team which isn’t real and it’s not possible. I heard Darren Hardy speak on this subject and was intrigued. He stated something that really resonated with me. Failure is like a pendulum, in order to win big you have to fail big. Then in BIG BOLD letters he showed a sign that said I LOVE FAILURE , turn fear into fun!

You have to understand that it’s just part of the process. I am actually going to be making a bumper sticker to put on my car that has this saying because we HAVE to embrace the fact that we are going to fail. Nobody is perfect and as a leader you need to embrace failure. You have to know how to cope with it so you can be an example to your team. You KNOW the top coaches in this business have failed what’s the difference? They kept going and learned!

 Today I want you to sit down and really come to terms with the fact that you are going to fail, possibly more than once. Embrace it. Once you have committed to failing big to win big, I want you to message your up line saying I LOVE FAILURE and then list why! How is failure going to help you and your team!? Also if you would like a bumper sticker for your car send me a message I would LOVE to have cars out there with this saying on it!