Make Failure Your Friend

Principle #6: Self-leadership means learning from your mistakes.

Make failure your friend.

Self-evaluation means nothing if you cannot learn from your mistakes. By confronting your mistakes you take one step closer to becoming the person you are supposed to be. None of us would be anywhere without self-evaluation.

I once heard a coach compare the athlete who can self-evaluate with the one who can’t think past the current play. An athlete who is self-evaluating is usually your captain. He or she is the athlete who understands how mistakes (especially his or hers) affect the momentum and outcome of the game. If an athlete cannot make adjustments during a game, then chances are they will lose. It is the same outside of the game.

In business or in personal life, it’s easy to spot someone who keeps running into the same brick wall. They make the same mistakes because they refuse to learn from their mistakes. In sports it’s the athlete who can make adjustments during play or at halftime or between holes who will typically rise above the competition. Too often when people face defeat, they respond either by never trying again or by continuing their faulty strategy or action.

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, said, “When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal,” great advice! Learn from your mistake. Your plan is not sound, so make corrections and get back in the game.

Love that thought!