How’s that for kicking off this article with a positive suggestion? “Are you telling us we should actually fail… faster.” There are a couple of facts in life that you will soon be experiencing, some more pleasurable than others. I can guarantee you that, sooner or later, you will be experiencing failure in some way, shape, or form. The worst thing you can do is try to avoid this aspect of life. If success is something you want to achieve in the coming years, failure will become a key ingredient. 
Failure is Your Fastest Route to Success
If you want to learn more, do more and be more, you will need to accelerate your journey along the road that is unfamiliar to you. I am suggesting that you step out of your comfort zone. I say this for good reason. While there is no shame in “failing,” you might want to learn something from your gaffs when your face is turning red. From the first day you tried to say the word ‘momma,’ to the day you saddled up on your “two-wheel ride” (having ditched the training wheels), you began to screw a few things up. The first time trying to catch a baseball probably resulted in you stopping the ball with your nose. Your first spoonful of peas, in all probability ended up in your left ear. The first sound you heard while learning to parallel park your parent’s car was probably the sound of the bumper running over a garbage can. Failure got you to where you are today, and it will get you where you need to be tomorrow.
“The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.” -Tom Watson, founder of IBM.
Life is not mastered by following a carefully designed, linear-based blueprint. It has proven to be a learn-as-you-go proposition. A famous United States’ military leader (General Schwarzkopf) went on record to say: “Everything I learned in the military I learned from screwing up the first time.” Brilliant! Your life, my life, his or her life, unfolds in an experiential fashion. We try stuff. We then analyze the consequences. We decide if we learned anything worth remembering. If we are on the ball, we tune-in and carefully adjust our next approach. We then try again with newfound intelligence. Intelligent adjustments will distinguish you from the others. Many folks decide to replicate the same behavior, thinking that continued effort will satisfy the “persistence clause.” They ride the proverbial learning curve believing that shear tenacity will carry them to the promise land. Others expect instant results by quitting early, hoping that an elusive cure-all (karma) will kick in and do its thing. Misdirected action, regardless of your good intentions, will result in a less-than-satisfactory outcome. You can water, prune, feed, and care for a rose bush with infinite love, but it will never grow into an oak tree. It will continue to be a rose bush.
Translation: You are who you are, and you must learn to recognize and play to your strengths. You can become just another scruffy looking rose or one qualified to win the ribbons at the flower show. I suppose what I am suggesting is that you don’t place the word “fail” into the four-letter word category beginning with the letter ‘F.’ You should in fact, learn to cherish it. It is the fastest way, and perhaps the best way, to learn a new skill. Forget everything you have learned on the subject of “failure avoidance” and, starting today, accelerate your failure acceptance. By definition, failure is not bad. In fact, it is often a very good thing. If you are not comfortable with the concept of failure as a growth strategy, allow me to put a more politically correct spin on it. Experiment your way through life. Try different things. Investigate alternative maneuvers knowing that some will work better than others. You will then be qualified to make better decisions. Whatever you choose to call it, (A) experimentation or (B) failure, it will lead to success faster than any other option.
Mike Marchev is always looking for a few more proactive travel professionals to join his Sales and Marketing Club, mike@mikemarchev.com.
*** You want more to think about? Check out my weekly podcast (Miked Up Marchev). Also listed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, and iHeartRadio.
