Written by Stephanie Barnes Taylor
You know they say that people who aren't afraid to drop the F-word every once in awhile are more successful. What? No, not that F-word! Failure!
Failure is a maligned word that is feared, despised and avoided. But those who are successful know that failures often lead to the best lessons. In fact, if you have not failed at anything, you have never truly taken a risk. You have never stepped outside of your comfort zone to stretch yourself into your growth zone.
My name is Stephanie Barnes Taylor and I have failed. I have failed in small ways. I have failed in spectacular ways. Sometimes I am amazed by the success of my failure! However, every failure brought a lesson that showed me how to succeed. Every failure showed me what I could really do. Every failure showed me that I could fall down and get back up. Every failure made me better. Every failure taught me that there was nothing to be afraid of other than being too afraid to try. I am not afraid to fail.
When you fail--not if--you should learn how to fail fabulously!
1. Be Beautiful!
Look for what you did right! One of my favorite books is "Breaking the Rules" by Kurt Wright. It totally changed my perspective on failures and problem solving. He wisely urges that you start your search for solutions by identifying where you are your best. Rather than asking why everything went wrong, focus on what went right. What makes it right? What can you do to make more of what went right? In every attempt that you make to do something new or challenging, there is always something right--if you look for it. Even though the outcome is not what you desired, the courage to commit to trying is always right. But that won't be all. So as you are dissecting your failure, look for the beauty first. Trust me. You need the beauty to salve the hurt.
2. School Yourself
Once you mend your broken spirit and hurt feelings with the joy of knowing you did something right, learn what did not work. Learn what you can do next time. Learn what you should not do next time. Learn what you should have learned before you began. Sometimes, you have to learn who you need to help you do it better. Sometimes a failure occurs because you don't have the right team and you don't have the right resources. Sometimes your failure is merely an outcome short of your expectations. You wanted 100 and all you got was 1. That 1 is still an accomplishment! Most of all, learn who you really are. You are more than your mistakes. You are not a mistake. Your mistake is a mistake.
3. Put on a Fabulous Pair of Shoes and Keep It Stepping!
Don't get bogged down in the disappointment, disgust, and dissection of the failure. Move past the failure and into the future. Convert your knowledge into action. Now that you know better, do better. If you execute the same failure in the same fashion again, you have now made choice to be a failure. So try something different and fail doing something else! Move forward! Move on. Move! Don't stay stuck in the story of how you failed.
Create a new story of how you took a licking and kept on ticking! Create a fabulous testimony of how you rose from the ashes of defeat to soar to new heights. Create a story so fabulous that you soon forget that you ever failed at all. Embrace your failures as the path to your prosperity. Here are some great failures that come to mind: Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, Colonel Sanders, and the Wright Brothers. My favorite story about a failure is that of Oprah Winfrey. She was fired as a news anchor and demoted to being a talk show host. How did Oprah launch her greatly successful career as a media mogul? As a talk show host!!!! Her demotion was her promotion to her purpose!
Learn to embrace your failures! You may be one failure away from finding your fabulous!
Stephanie Barnes Taylor is the CEO of The Fruition Group, LLC. A former corporate attorney and executive, Stephanie works with women to help them find their inner leader through her transformational coaching program, Fabulous University--where women learn to lead with brilliance! Stephanie helps women to have a fabulous career, business, and life! Being fabulous is to live and lead boldly, brilliantly, and vividly.
Stephanie Barnes Taylor can be reached at Stephanie@fabulousuniversity.me or call (855) 7-FABYOU. Visit www.stephaniebarnestaylor.com for more information. Follow Stephanie on Twitter and Periscope @crownedatbirth or www.facebook.com/StephanieBarnesTaylorAuthor