Failure is a stepping stone towards success. But the information you gather only has power when it is applied to real life situations. Failure is feedback when you can learn different lessons from the failure, which puts you on your way to success.
- It is easy to feel like a failure when something does not work out.
- It is first instinct to feel disappointed when your project or start-up fails. At that moment, you could not care less about feedback from failure.
Inventors are the biggest failures you can find. Failing is the only way through which you can truly create something new. Inventors do not think of it as failing. As Thomas Edison put it, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
Sir James Dyson took this principal to heart. He created 5,127 vacuum prototypes, all of which could be considered “failed attempts.” He spent 15 years perfecting his product before bringing it to market. Dyson: “ There are countless times an inventor can give up on an idea. By the time I finished my 15th prototype, my third child was born. By 2,627, my wife and I were really counting our pennies. By 3,727, my wife was giving art lessons for extra cash. These were tough times, but each failure brought me closer to solving the problem.”
The way you view your failed attempts will decide whether or not you are going to succeed.
James Dyson’s net worth – $3 billion
Howard Lipset, CPA
Progressive Management, Inc.
(516) 883-2962
lipset@progressivemanage.com