There Is No Failure. Only Feedback
“There is no failure, only feedback.” ~ Robert Allen.
If you take a minute and really ponder about this saying… you’ve got it made with regards to everything you press forward to do in your life!
Why do I say this?
Because people are often afraid to move forward for fear of failure as they move toward the lifestyle they want to create. There’s so much fear of judgement, fear of what others will think of them, fear of success, fear of this and that and the other thing.
People give up on their entrepreneurial ventures in the name of failure, or the fear of failure every day. In fact, 98% fail and it’s because of the product or comp plan or anything like that. It’s because of their best thinking and their desire to succeed.
Fear of paralyzing.
So what can I do to help you overcome that?
What if we just removed failure altogether?
Robert Allen said it perfectly….. “There is no failure, only feedback.”
Going forward, you can now view your life, your relationships, your business ventures, any new thing you want to do, as feedback.
If you succeed in a thing, the feedback is ‘it worked, or is working.”
If what you are trying to do is not working, it’s just feedback that you need to do it a different way.
Let’s take a look at possible feedback in your home based business.
If you write an email and nobody opens it…it’s not failure.
It’s feedback that says:
“hey, there’s a couple possible solutions to change… ”
1) The email needs a more interesting subject line.
2) The email address you’re using to send from is causing deliverability issues.
3) The email client you chose is having deliverability issues.
4) The subscribers aren’t getting value from you and should unsubscribe.
If you make a video and you’re not getting views… it’s not failure.
It’s feedback that says:
“hey, there’s a couple possible solutions to change… ”
1) This video isn’t connecting with your target market.
2) Check your tags, title, description and keywords.
3) Is it a good picture, meaning is there is dirty dishes in the background or clean and tidy?
4) Check your confidence level.
5) How’s the authenticity of your message?
6) How’s the lighting and sound?
If you place an ad and you get no opt-ins to your list… it’s not failure.
It’s feedback that says:
“hey, there’s a couple possible solutions to change… ”
1) This venue isn’t connecting with your target market.
2) Your headline isn’t interesting enough.
3) Your ad copy body needs to say something different.
4) Your ad is fine but you need to change the ‘next step’ you’re asking your viewer to go through to be more congruent with your ad.
If you are blogging and you have no views… it’s not failure.
It’s feedback that says:
“hey, there’s a couple possible solutions to change…”
1) Make sure your syndicating your content (getting it out there for people to read, such as posting to Facebook for example)
2) Make sure your SEO steps are complete.
3) Make sure your keywords are even being searched.
4) Make sure it’s the right message for your target audience
5) Make sure it’s understandable and your’re communicating the right way
lf you’re feeling poorly because you haven’t made a sale, it’s not failure.
It’s feedback that says:
“hey, success is a journey. Stand tall and make sure you are doing what successful people do, such as…”
1) Read 30 min a day personal development topics.
2) Listen to personal development audio for at least 30 min a day.
3) Doing income producing activities every day.
4) Registered and attending the next event for your company or industry
5) Reviewing your goals, your ‘why’ which is your dreams and have drawn a line in the sand that says, “I will do whatever it takes.”
You see, these are all things that go along with learning to market. No big deal!
Jim Rohn said, “Failure is not a single cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment repeated every day.”
Monitor what you’re doing everyday and see how things are working for you.
Then, like a commanding a ship at sea, adjust your course.
Thomas Edison never failed.
He just discovered 10,000 ways something didn’t work.
I’m so glad he didn’t give up!
I’m glad he viewed his process of discovering the light bulb as feedback.
It’s all how YOU decide to identify your results.
It’s all discovery and feedback.
Look at your business as just that.
Feedback From My Seam Ripper
When I was a girl and learning how to sew, I can’t tell you how many times I had to rip a zipper out, or a seam that went crooked or a piece of fabric that got caught in the needle’s path and I wasn’t paying attention.
I remember every time I realized I had made a mistake, there was drama. Lots of drama. I laugh looking back but at the time it was not funny at all.
As the years went on, I still needed my seam ripper (I had a collection!) but I needed them less often.
The feedback I received after making a stick was…
- the dress didn’t fit right
- the zipper didn’t open
- the material didn’t lay right.
No big deal!
Believe you me… mistakes were awesome because I made them less and less!
While you’re receiving feedback as you grow your business, try to celebrate feedback and be excited about where you’re headed.
Know that you’ll get there.
Have fun, learn to laugh at yourself, love life, and enjoy your journey!
Re-frame your thoughts and the word “failure”.
Never again will you fail. You will only receive feedback.
Hopefully you are practicing this in your home even with your children.
When they are young…
- they fall down as they learn to walk.
- they fall off the bike before they learn to balance.
- they scribble before they draw.
- the bat misses the connection with the ball before they get to first base.
Are you telling them they are failures?
Or are you giving them feedback and cheering their efforts knowing that just around the corner that…
- they will walk with falling..
- they will balance and ride their bike..
- they will draw and sketch and it will be their unique art style.
- they will hit the ball, however far it goes.
Overcoming Failure and Failure Quotations
If you think there’s some bologna about failure being feedback, look how many famous people celebrate failure toward the success they accomplished. It took these from a site call Self Help Daily. It’s a pretty cool little site if you’re ever looking for quotes.
There is no failure, only feedback – Robert Allen
If you’re doing your best, you won’t have any time to worry about failure. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr., Quoted in P.S. I Love You
Failure is an event, never a person. – William D. Brown, Welcome Stress!
The only time you don’t fail is the last time you try anything – and it works. – William Strong
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. – Thomas Edison
There is no failure except in no longer trying. – Elbert Hubbard
Supposing you have tried and failed again and again. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down. – Mary Pickford
Try again. Fail again. Fail better. – Samuel Beckett
Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure… it just means you haven’t succeeded yet. – Robert Schuller
One fails forward toward success. – Charles F. Kettering
One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake.
– Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
A man may fall many times, but he won’t be a failure until he says that someone pushed him. – Elmer G. Letterman
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. – F. Scott Fitzgerald
In a world flagrant with the failures of civilization, what is there particularly immortal about our own? – G.K. Chesterton
They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward. – Thomas Edison
There are defeats more triumphant than victories. – Michel de Montaigne
Failure sometimes enlarges the spirit. You have to fall back upon humanity and God. – Charles Horton Cooley
Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, “I have failed three times,” and what happens when he says, “I am a failure.” – S.I. Hayakawa
A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in the experience. – Elbert Hubbard
No man is a failure who is enjoying life. – William Feather
Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. – Henry Ford
Because a fellow has failed once or twice or a dozen times, you don’t want to set him down as a failure till he’s dead or loses his courage. – George Horace Lorimer
You can’t have any successes unless you can accept failure. – George Cukor
There is no failure. Only feedback. – Robert Allen
Failure changes for the better, success for the worse. – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
There is much to be said for failure. It is more interesting than success. – Max Beerbohm
You always pass failure on your way to success. – Mickey Rooney
Nothing fails like success because we don’t learn from it. We learn only from failure. – Kenneth Boudling
Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits. – Robert Louis Stevenson
It is a mistake to suppose that people succeed through success; they often succeed through failures. – Author Unknown
The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed. – Lloyd Jones
YOUR NEW MOTTO:
Never fail. Only feedback!
I’m cheering you on my friend!
Have an awesome ‘No Failure, Only Feedback’ day!
PS: Leave me a comment below and let’s talk about this… I love this stuff!
What are you doing right now to effect change in your life, to create abundance, to share your gifts and talents to impact the world and to prepare to change lives? You can see some of the business things I’m doing here.
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