Ochie Oca

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

How to see failure and turn it into success

How to see failure and turn it into success
How to see failure and turn it into success

How to see failure and turn it into success. Successful people can use failure as a stepping stone to achieve higher success in the future.

This time I will discuss the book Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell. This book discusses the right way to look at failure and turn it into a ladder to success.

Today's world is very competitive where everyone is vying for success and showing off his life on social media.

Failure is often seen as a taboo subject, an obstacle to be avoided. But, is failure so scary? Turns out, not too scary.

We must rethink failure as a concept. Contrary to the view of most people, failure is not the opposite of success, but an important part of it.

Failure should not always be avoided. Instead, it should be embraced as we learn from it and become stronger in the future.

How to see failure and turn it into success, You Can Try


I've summarized them into three highlights from the book Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell:

First, the mindset of successful people


What is the fundamental contrast between successful individuals and ordinary individuals? The main difference lies in their perception and response to failure. Most people are used to being trained to accept success, but not many are trained to accept failure.

Feeling disappointed by dreams or hopes that are not achieved is part of life. Life basically has a lot of problems, but the question is not whether you have problems in life or not, but how do you deal with them?

Many successful entrepreneurs see their success as the ability to persevere from one failure to another. These successful entrepreneurs realize that even if their business fails, they are in a better position than when they started. However, if it's the fear of failure that limits them from starting, then they won't be able to achieve anything.

How to see failure and turn it into success
How to see failure and turn it into success

There is an interesting story. In 1982, Coca Cola launched a Diet Coke variant and immediately became popular in the market.

Understandably, since the 1970s, consumers began to care about health and reduce their daily sugar. Although this fact means that Coca Cola's sales will decrease, on the other hand, it provides an opportunity for Coca Cola to open new markets, namely for consumers who are starting to be sensitive to health.

This is what makes Diet Coke so successful in the market. This success then made Coca Cola bolder and launched a new formula for Coca Cola under the name New Coke.

At that time, they believed that this new formula was the answer to Coca Cola's declining sales. Unfortunately, this expectation does not match reality. Consumers disliked New Coke and Coca Cola lost up to $100 million.

This failure then made Coca Cola aware of what consumers like. With alacrity, Coca Cola then introduced the Coca-Cola Classic variant. This is a turning point from previous failures and consumers love it very much.

From this story, we learn that we will not always be right. What is far more important is not failure itself, but how we behave when faced with failure. Do we stop or use this failure as a ladder to higher success?

Second, another perspective on failure


There is an interesting question. What if the failure we experience is a result that is beyond our control? If that's the case, try not to beat yourself up, but rather take responsibility for finding the best solution.

John gives an example from Greg Horn's story. He is a supermarket entrepreneur who was devastated in 1997 during the floods in Kentucky.

Greg has tried to insure almost any type of damage or theft that might occur, but sadly, except for flood damage. Of course, the flood was beyond Greg's control.

However, his faith did not waver over the hostile conditions. Instead of giving up, Greg takes responsibility for the situation and tries to fix his shop as quickly as possible. These repairs cost up to a million dollars, but Greg was able to reopen his shop in just 21 days after the flood.

How to see failure and turn it into success
How to see failure and turn it into success

When life doesn't live up to our expectations, what do we do? Do we spend time complaining and blaming ourselves? Or are we responsible and looking for the best solution?

This choice will determine our future. We often hear that failure is just bad and should be avoided as much as possible. However, if we never fail, can we find new opportunities?

It must be understood, failure is inevitable, everyone will definitely feel failure, the question is only when?

However, failure is not a shameful event, but a learning process because success itself is not a goal, but also a process.

Another interesting perspective is that people often view failure as subjective, meaning you have the choice to determine whether your actions constitute failure or a learning process for the better.

This ability is needed by someone if you want to be successful, how can you use failure as a stepping stone to achieve higher success in the future.

Third, Create opportunities from failure


To be able to turn thoughts about failure into opportunities, we need to pay attention to three things, namely:

The first point, goal setting, the ability to interact with others, and a positive mindset. Maybe not many people know what they want in life. But apparently, they are still willing to work hard to achieve it.

One of the secrets of success is how you can direct your energy to turn it into a clear goal. So, instead of busy complaining that work is too busy, set goals that can make you have a more balanced life.


For example, you may set aside money to invest or start a business so that you can achieve financial freedom. With a clear goal, your life will be more directed. You have focus in life.

The second important point is the ability to interact with other people. Today, most jobs require collaboration with other people.

We can not only work alone, but to achieve great success, we need to interact with other people. You can hone your communication and negotiation skills so that you can win the hearts of those around you or open up new opportunities in the future.

The third point is a positive mindset or positive mindset. There is an interesting anecdote. Two inmates looking out of prison bars. The first person only sees mud, while the second person sees the stars in the sky. The same situation will be different if we have a different mindset.

Closing


That's my writing about How to see failure and turn it into success, Failure is the price we have to pay to achieve success. When successful people fail, they see it as a stepping stone to greater success in the future.

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