Getting Comfortable with Failure. Most people are afraid of failure.

Are you one of those people who are afraid of failure? Don’t worry, most people are. But have you ever wondered why that is?

Well, when I ask people what scares them the most about failure, I usually hear three consistent answers:

1. Fear of negatively impacting your reputation: “If I fail, I won’t get the promotion.”
2. Fear of wasting time: “I’ve invested two years of my life — we can’t fail now!”
3. Fear of wasting money: “I’ve invested way too much money — we can’t fail now!”

But here’s the thing – whatever the reason, fear of failure is actually fear of change — and therefore fear of innovation.

As an entrepreneur, this fear can be crippling — paralyzing your creativity and risk-taking, and ultimately lowering your odds of success.

So, how do you minimize fear of failure in yourself and your team?

Well, it starts with shifting your perspective about failure. Instead of seeing it as the end of the road, see it as a stepping stone to innovation.

Stanford Business School Professor Baba Shiv puts it best, “Failure is a dreaded concept for most businesspeople. But failure can actually be a huge engine of innovation. The trick lies in approaching it with the right attitude and harnessing it as a blessing, not a curse.”

Do you see what he’s saying? Failure is not necessarily the disaster that everyone assumes.

In fact, it can be a huge opportunity for growth and learning. Failure can actually be exciting, Shiv says.

So, how do we create an environment where failure is seen as an opportunity rather than a setback?

One approach is rapid prototyping. This is the process of brainstorming wild new ideas, then quickly developing a physical model or mockup of the solution.

When people see that not all prototypes end up as the best or final solution, rapid prototyping teaches that failure is actually a necessary part of the process.

But we need to do more than just understand the value of failure. We need to actively create an environment that embraces risk-taking and failure.

One way to do this is through what I call the 5–5–5 Rapid Innovation Method. Here’s how it works in three steps:

1. Teams of 5: Break your company or group into teams of five people, maximizing diversity in the group.
2. Allocate Budget: Each team is given a budget of $500 to $5,000 to spend during the 5–5–5 program.
3. Allocate Time: Give the teams a fixed, short amount of time to run a number of experiments to see if their idea has merit and gets traction.

If you can create a safe environment where people can practice stretching their imaginations, taking bigger risks, and learning to see failure as a building block of innovation, the possibilities are endless.

Remember, the road to success as an entrepreneur is paved with failure. You must have a strategy in place to encourage risk-taking, manage that risk, and learn from the inevitable mistakes.

A risk-accepting mentality is key to rapid iteration, failing forward, and ultimately entrepreneurship.

And that’s okay! It’s all part of the journey.

If you want to learn more about nurturing a risk-accepting mentality and thriving in this era of exponential change, consider joining my year-round Abundance360 Mastermind and Executive program.

My mission is to help A360 members obtain mastery in four specific mindsets: an Abundance Mindset; an Exponential Mindset; a Longevity Mindset; and a Moonshot Mindset.

To learn more and apply to A360, visit abundance360.com.

Here’s to embracing failure and taking risks! It’s the only way to innovate and succeed.

Reference : Uburubot