It's Always Darkest Before Dawn - Learning To Fail

"It's Always Darkest Before Dawn - Learning To Fail" by Keith S Davies

One of the quotes I recall when I have had a string of set-backs in either my business or personal life is; "failures pain subsides faster than the pain of regret." This happens to directly coincide with another one I think of often which is; "better to regret the things you have tried, than regretting never trying at all." I'm not sure who wrote these quotes, but they are so true for anyone that is struggling to make sense of their failures to date.

I recall when I was a few years younger, and I was trying to break into the online money making world. I had tried everything from app development, mobile websites, pay per click affiliate marketing, blogging, pay per view ads, pay to click sites, website development, search engine optimisation, forex trading, option trading, futures trading, stock trading, selling on eBay, drop shipping on eBay, CPA marketing, Facebook pages, YouTube marketing, graphics design, and I even tried my hand at collecting rare coins at one stage. Whilst I have well and truly mastered some of these topics, There are still others that probably could have still worked if I had persisted long enough. I failed over, and over, and over again until I could make that one thing work. I thought if I didn't know how to do all sorts of these tasks, then I couldn't really consider myself an expert of any kind. I now consider myself an expert in many of these fields, but I am digressing here.

The point I am trying to make is that when you fail, good things happen. It hurts, and you are ashamed at the time, but the strength you gain from these experiences is invaluable. You become more savvy, more self-aware, and I would hope for most of us also more determined to succeed. Most of the successful people in the world have failed at many things before they made their major breakthrough. I encourage anyone that is facing a major setback not to give up, but to view it simply as it is, just a setback.

One of my mentors when I was in a previous sales role was not only a sales savant, but also an incredible motivator. He would make call after call to give his spiel to his various leads, and sure enough he would face countless rejections. Despite all this, one of the remarkable things he told me (and I don't believe this was one of his original thoughts, or quotes) was; "every 'no' I get, brings me closer to the next 'yes.' I remember when he first told me this, and I pondered on it for some time. That meant that even though he was failing day in and day out in his profession, he was able to view each one in a positive light. He had taught himself that no matter how many failures he would go through, each individual failure would teach him something.

If we can view our failures as 'temporary set backs' or challenges, then we view them differently, we face them in a whole new light, and a whole new perspective.