The Psychology of Failure for Business Owners

noun
the fact of someone or something not succeeding:
the fact of not doing something that you must do or are expected to do:
the fact of something not working, or stopping working as well as it should:

Failure is considered to be the loss of all hope, simply because you weren’t able to meet a target set by yourself or others, within a certain time frame. The psychology of failure is that as soon as you fail to meet the expectations of others around you, you are likely to fall in a pool of despondency and depression.

Instead of thinking about listing the factors which lead to failure or taking heart from the idea that you at least tried, you are bound to lament your disappointment of letting everyone, including yourself, down. A Japanese proverb reads:

“Fall seven times and stand up eight.”

This proverb illustrates the psychology we should have in the face of failure. Every time we face business failure, it leads us to doubt our capabilities and shrink from trying out something new the next time; but instead, our action should be something that mirrors this Thomas Edison quote:

“Many of life’s failures were people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Business failure is not the last step. Actually, it is the first step towards assured success; as smart business owners learn from their mistakes and start the next time, with even more zeal, zest and knowledge to finally secure success. If they let the fear filled psychology of failure inhibit their future efforts, then they have indeed failed.
Henry Ford has summed up the course of action that a business owner combating the psychological impact of failure should adopt, and that is:

“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

The important point is that the psychology of fear should be subjected to a complete change. While the current idea of failure is that you have failed to achieve something, it should instead be that all we need to do, is try again with a fresh mind.
B.F. Skinner, an American psychologist has effectively summed up the psychology of failure, and quotes:

“A failure is not always a mistake. It may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.”

There is an abundance of real-life examples of billionaire business owners, who faced multiple failures when they started out in their career. But they never gave up or fell into the well of depression that comes with failure. They used failure as a stepping stone to improve their tactics and enjoyed subsequent successes in business which helped them emerge as benchmarks and examples in the industry.

Failure is nothing but the first step towards success!

 

Book Your Free Session