Just something on my mind this evening.
There’s a lot of mantras these days about failure.
That’s it’s “OK” to fail.
Or that one should “fail fast.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about those, not because we’re failing at my current endeavor, we’re actually gaining velocity. But here’s the interesting thing about velocity. As some things start moving, other things start looking more like failures.
Perhaps I failed at convincing someone that they should back us. Maybe I failed at earning a particular customer today.
In the past, I’ve failed at getting business traction fast enough that we could make a product work in the marketplace.
The point is, there’s a LOT of failure in there. It happens all the time; and I don’t think I should EVER be “ok” with it, or hope that it “happens fast.”
Failure is only useful as a tool to show you the boundaries of what you are willing and not willing to accept as “a satisfactory result.” I will *never* be satisfied with failure.
The only purpose it serves to DARE YOU to try again.
Failure is only a battle. A skirmish. It’s taking a hill. And as human beings, entrepreneurs, husbands, fathers, friends, if we’re satisfied in failing, then we’re doing it wrong. Failure must be used as a catalyst to DO BETTER.
The real enemy is defeat. Defeat is when failure is an outcome that you accept as satisfactory.
Defeat, is when you surrender. When you give up.
Failure is a battle, Defeat is the war.
The good news is, losing the war can only happen when you surrender.
Never surrender.