Sometimes, failure IS an option!

  • If Steve Jobs hadn't been fired from Apple, he never would have bought Pixar and then revolutionized Apple when he went back to the company.
  • Walt Disney was fired as a newspaper editor for his lack of imagination. If he hadn't been fired, we never would have had Mickey Mouse, Disneyland, or Disney World.
  • Colonel Sanders got his start with a restaurant by the side of the road. If it hadn't failed, there wouldn't be a KFC today.
Failure isn't necessarily a bad thing. As a matter of fact, it's impossible to achieve great things without it. But it's what you do with failure that truly matters.

1. Learn from the experience.
Failure is just feedback telling you that something wasn't working and that you need to change it. Treat "failure" as feedback that will help you improve. Did you not work hard enough? Did you overestimate your abilities? Did you have the right resources? Do you need to tweak your plan?

Remember your first few speeches? Did you get any feedback telling you that there were some things you needed to work on? Did those "failures" make you stop speaking?

2. Ask brutally honest questions.
If you're not getting new members, ask yourself, "Have we gotten lazy and just aren't promoting ourselves anymore?", "Are our meetings as good as they could be?", "Is our meeting time/day/location conducive to getting more guests?"

"Failure" leads to success - but only if you are willing to honestly consider that maybe you need to change some things before trying again.

3. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
Remember that the seven officers in the club are (or should be) a team. There will be times when they need to rely on you. And there will be times when you need to rely on them. You can't know, or do, everything so don't be afraid to ask for help.

If your fellow officers don't have the answers, ask your Area Director. If they don't know, ask your Division Director, or one of the Trio. We will GET you the answer or help.

4. Remind yourself why it's important.
It's very easy to give up on something. After all, NOT doing something is always easier than DOING something. But you apparently thought the project was important enough to put time and energy into it in the first place. Now is the time to remind yourself why it's important.

5. "Failure" is what happened -  not who you are.
If you fail, right now, that doesn't mean you're going to fail the next time you try. Your current situation doesn't define you, it's where you happen to be right now.

If you put on an Open House and no one shows up. Does that mean no one will show up for your next one? If you put on a contest and it doesn't go very well, does that mean you won't learn anything from it and your next one will be just as bad? (The answer to both of these is "NO" by the way!)

I know it sounds cliché but it's very true - you don't "fail" until you quit trying.

So don't give up. What you're doing IS important and I have EVERY confidence you will succeed! FAIL stands for First Attempt In Learning!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

10 Leadership Lessons From Hal Moore

The Golden Circle

R-Factors