10 Ways to make Failure your Friend




What does it take to make failure your friend. Ultimately your success will be related to how fast you overcome failure. The Success Journey by John Maxwell is a book I enjoyed which talks about the steps needed to overcome failure. Here they are with my take on each.
Appreciate the value of failure   – All successful people have encountered heart breaking obstacles before winning. There is no success without failure. Learn from every failure and understand that it is never final.
Don’t take failure personally  – Even if you get fired don’t let that affect your self-esteem. So many times we don’t get the promotion we wanted. This is life and it is difficult. Let’s not make it more difficult by putting ourselves down.   
Let failure redirect you  – This means you need to persevere having the larger vision for your life in sight. Never lose the big picture in the midst of temporary failures.
Keep a sense of humor – You can do this by taking yourself lightly but taking life seriously. Take everything in your stride and understand that there is a larger force which plans our life. We need to develop acceptance and at the same time take action to reduce the occurrence of failure.  
Make failure a learning experience  – Failure is never final if we learn from it. Learn from every setback and more importantly treat it as a temporary setback. This can be achieved by having a personal mission statement which will orient you towards the larger vision you have for your life.
Don’t let failure keep you down  – You may be down but you are never out. Never think that one opportunity is the be all and end all. There will be multiple opportunities for you in life. If one door closes another one will open.
Use Failure as a gauge for growth -  When failure hits this is an indication to learn something and grow personally. We have heard a lot of successful people say that failure is the reason they are successful now. This is because they used failure as an impetus to grow as a person.
Develop a plan for growth – As I mentioned earlier have a date with yourself daily for personal growth. For example Bill Gates had think weeks planned where all he did was read on the latest trends. Growth has to be planned and only then can you reap the benefits.
See the big picture  – Begin with the end in mind but be prepared for every crisis on the way. You have to always have your vision burning inside you. This will help you blast through any setbacks.   
Don’t give up  – Finally never give up. No matter how bad the situation is there are people who have had it worse and overcome it. You have access to immense failures that have made it big. Use those examples as inspiration to keep moving forward,
There you have it the 10 ways to make failure your friend. The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization.

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