Yesterday, we talked about the importance of seeing opportunity in failure. Today, let’s talk about why failure can be a good thing…
Failure occurs every day, everywhere, and to every one. To reiterate from yesterday, it’s all in how you look at it… will it be an opportunity for you, or a setback?
Let’s look at a few real-life situations:
Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business. ~Zig Ziglar
Why? Because if the business seizes the opportunity that’s hidden in the complaining customer, and they work to regain the customer’s trust and make the customer happy again, then they have deepened the level of trust the customer has in the company. They now have a loyal customer who will spread the word about how good their business is, how helpful. Scott Stratten of UnMarketing talks about this all the time. He gives great examples too… you should check him out on Twitter or Facebook – he’s hilarious – and real.
Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise. ~Kobe Bryant
This is an example from an athlete. It could be a movie star, a singer, or any other type of ‘celebrity’ figure. They face challenges too, but most of them get (and stay) famous because of what they do with them.
One more example – from me now.
One of the things I consider as my biggest failure in life is that I couldn’t carry my triplets longer than I did. They were born at 27 weeks and 5 days. My body failed them. I failed them. And ultimately, my son died.
Now, I know full well that this isn’t really my fault, but it took awhile to get there. In the meantime? I chose to find the opportunities in my situation. I started blogging about loss and trying to help others who have experienced it. I wrote a book about bed rest and how to survive it (you can buy it on Amazon). And I chose to use my experience (my failure) as an opportunity to help others.
Like the quote from Mary Kay Ash illustrates, you just have to find it. This is the tough part. This is where people give up.
You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give. ~E.O. Wilson
You have a unique gift. A unique message. And in order to blog your truth, you can’t give up when it gets hard to share it.
Remember, things happen for a reason (I know, it’s cliche, but it’s true…) and that means failures happen for a reason too. You don’t necessarily need to focus on the why of the failure, although, it’s probably good to know so you can avoid the same fate again down the road, but it’s most important to focus on the what of failure.
What are you going to do with it? What opportunity can be found from your failure? What path are you going to choose now?
Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. ~Denis Waitley
Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how you can blog your truth while speaking love and grace. (Yes, just because you’re being truthful, doesn’t mean you have to be hateful – remember day 5 and 6?)
For more posts in the Blogging Your Truth series, click on the image below.
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