At some point we’re all going to fail. We may not like it, but it’s a necessary step in the process of succeeding.

In his book Adapt, Tim Hartford talks about the process of adapting to failure. Hartford contends that it’s not only okay to fail, but that it’s necessary; that “success comes through rapidly fixing our mistakes rather than getting things right the first time.”

The creative mind fears failure. So much of our identity is tied to – and found in – our art. In this, we fear failure will take away our influence, voice, equity, or stature. Basically, we get full of pride and think it’s all about us and we don’t want to look bad. It’s okay – that’s natural. But real success is found when we’re comfortable knowing that failure is part of the process and when we realize tho we respond to failure is more important than how we hide it.

Being creative gives us a different lens. We see things in a way not everyone can. But because of our uncanny connection to our art, we often have blind spots that hinder our own self critique – or worse, we are so hard on ourselves and we never allow our art the space to
win.

Hartford continues, “When you’re fixing your own mistake, you’re challenging a status quo that you yourself made. That’s a terribly difficult thing to do, but it’s a brilliant skill if you can acquire it.”

• So breathe.
• It is okay.
• We’re all going to fail.
• When we do, we’re going to get back up.
• We will adjust.
• We will adapt.
• We will move quickly.
• We will choose responding and avoid reacting.
• We will challenge the status quos that exits around us – especially our own.
• Then, we will fail again.
• And again.
• And again.
• Right up until we succeed.

Have you embraced the fact we are all going to fail our way to success? How have you gotten comfortable with this concept? Are you building a culture where failure is permitted?