Failure is only failure if you fail to learn from it.
Another way to say it is, it’s not a failure if you learn from it.
I believe every failure is an opportunity to learn and opens up new possibilities that we didn’t see or that weren’t available before.
We try things. Some work and some don’t. The point is to keep trying. As Theodore Roosevelt once said in his famous “Man in the Arena” speech,
“It’s not the critic who counts…the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”
Learning to Think Differently
Last week I tried to launch the second cohort of The Purpose Roadmap because I truly believe it can change people’s lives and trajectories. After all, I had seven happy customers who went through it the first time. But it didn’t work. I didn’t have enough people sign up to run the program again.
At first, I was a little disappointed, but then I thought about it from two different angles.
First, what did I learn?
- Maybe I only run it once a year?
- Maybe I don’t run any more live cohorts?
- Maybe I release it as an e-course instead?
- Maybe I haven’t yet reached the right audience yet?
- Maybe there is not a need for it? I don’t really believe that, but it is a possibility…
Second, by not doing it, what becomes possible?
- I could finish writing The Purpose Roadmap book
- I could write the blog series I’ve been wanting to work on
- I could focus on another aspect of ministry or business (I have a few in mind)
- I could revamp my Rest Assured book. There are some updates I’ve been wanting to do
I haven’t yet decided what I’m going to do with the extra time that has opened up, but I’m thinking about it.
Re-frame Your Failure
Is there something that hasn’t worked out for you? What have you learned from it? What becomes possible by not doing it?
* Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash
