5 Keys for Small Business Owners to Overcome Failure

Have you ever failed? It’s easy to talk about success without mentioning failure. But it is an essential part of the story.

As we talked about in last week's edition, everyone hates to fail but what most people don’t realize is that failing is part of success. Anyone who has ever succeeded has failed many times.

So what does it take to overcome failure?

Here are 5 keys to overcoming failure.

1. Learn From Your Mistakes and Failures.

How did you learn to ride a bike? The short answer: you fell off 100 times. Every time you make a mistake or fail, learn as much as you can from it so that you are better prepared next time.

Action Step: Write down the top five things that you learned from your last mistake or failure.

2. Don’t Dwell on It.

Now that you have learned something from your mistake, move on. Don’t dwell on your past. You can’t tell where you are going if you are looking backward. Also, dwelling on your past failures will keep you in prison right where you are.

Action Step: Read what you have written down in Key 1 (The 5 Things You Learned).

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Try Again.

Don’t let the fear from your last failure stop you from reaching your greatness, goal, dream, or potential. Just like learning to ride that bike, you didn’t fall once or twice and then give up.

Action Step: Take what you have learned and try it again now that you are better prepared.

4. Surround Yourself with Positive People.

No matter what it is that you are trying to achieve, surround yourself with successful people that have done what you want to do. One of the best ways to overcome failure is to learn how other people just like you overcame failure. This will not only encourage you but give you proof that it can be done.

Action Step: Find a person or a group of people who are successful and get around them as soon as possible.

5. Realizing Failure is Part of the Learning Curve.

Failure and mistakes aren’t fun but they are what help us learn to be great at whatever it is we are trying to achieve. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”?

Action Step: Think back to a time when you succeeded. Then think how many times you failed or made mistakes to get to that success.

Now that you have the 5 Keys to Overcoming Failure, go out there and just do it! You have a seed of greatness inside of you. Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from reaching your full potential in life.

Share a time when a fear of failing has kept you from making progress. How was it a significant point in your life?