Trait 6: Entrepreneurs See Lessons in Disappointments
Not everything you do in your business is going to work out the way you hoped or expected. Sometimes you’re going to fail. Sometimes you’re going to be very disappointed. But the way you view these disappointments is going to make all the difference in your future success.
You see, unsuccessful people take failures as the final say… as the nail in the coffin. They figure they get one shot at making something work, and if it doesn’t pan out then they weren’t meant to do it.
Thank goodness people like Thomas Edison didn’t feel that way. Depending on the source you read, Edison “failed” anywhere from a few thousand to a whopping ten thousand times while working on inventing the light bulb.
Now a lesser person might have just given up after the first few dozen failures. But the thing is, Edison didn’t view these disappointments as failures. Instead, he viewed them as lessons. Every time he tried an avenue that didn’t work, he figured he just learned one more way to NOT create the light bulb. And he also figured he was now one step closer to success.
If you want to be successful too, then you need to start looking at your failures and disappointments as lessons. Ask yourself:
Now, related to this is the concept of personal responsibility.
When an average person succeeds, they pat themselves on the back and give themselves credit for this success.
For example: “My product had a great launch – I worked really hard for this and recruited a lot of joint venture partners.”
However, then the average person fails, they don’t take responsibility for this failure. Instead, they look around for someone else or something else to blame.
For example: “My product launch flopped. But it wasn’t my fault – there was some other big product launch that day that drew all the attention away from mine.”
The difference between the average person and the successful person is that the successful person not only takes credit for successes, but he also takes responsibility for failures.
So let’s go back to the failed product launch. The person who is destined for success will say something like this: “My product launch failed. It’s my fault, because I didn’t research the market very well, and I didn’t hire a professional copywriter to write the sales letter. I’ll do better next time.”
See how that works?
The only way for you to see disappointments as valuable lessons is if you’re willing to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the problem. You must remind yourself that didn’t fail because of some extraneous reason. After all, if that was the case, then your success and your future is completely out of your hands.
Instead, you should examine your failures and determine your role in the problem. Ask yourself:
Be honest with yourself. You see, you don’t get just one shot at success – you get as many shots as you’re willing to take, but you need to learn from your mistakes. Once you accept responsibility and learn from your disappointments, then you are one grand step closer to the success you desire.
Okay, now let’s look at the next trait…