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As Halloween approaches and we are actually investing money and effort into scaring ourselves ‘for fun’, you have to wonder why we then spend the rest of the year running in the opposite direction from anything that might scare us or cause us fear of any kind. What strange creatures we are.
Having read an awful lot about Steve Jobs following his sad passing this month, I have come to admire the man even more for the healthy relationship he appeared to have developed with ‘failure’, which for those of us in business appears to be the most common and the strongest fear that we face. Fear that our businesses will fail and the impact that this may have on us professionally, financially, emotionally and even physically is at times almost paralyzing.
As I, with my bold and seemingly fearless partner, launch my latest business venture here in Canada there are moments where I can honestly say I am almost rendered breathless by the fear of failure. Typically this occurs at the end of the day when the tendency to feel overwhelmed ‘attacks’ most as I am found at my weakest (and needless to say most tired). I am yet to find a ‘cure’ for this but the following seem to help a little:
1) Get to bed early and ‘reward’ yourself with a good night’s sleep
2) Update your ‘To Do’ list and put some ‘easy wins’ at the top of the list
3) Remind yourself why you chose to go into business and ‘re-connect’ with the excitement of it all
4) Spend some time with a trusted peer or a business coach discussing the challenges you face and gaining a new perspective
But more importantly reassure yourselves that most successful people have experienced some form of failure in their lives and credit it for their future success! And EVEN more importantly acknowledge that a life without failure is no life at all, as illustrated so powerfully by another successful Mom….
“You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” J K Rowling (Harvard Commencement Speech – Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008)
Originally from the UK, Rachel Sumner of Halifax, NS has been an international market analyst, teacher, management professor and is more recently a consultant, published author and a business advisor. She is the co-owner of the newest professional space and community in Halifax called platform (www.platformspace.com) and is exceptional at building sustainable business models whilst being the Mom to three young children and adjusting to life in Canada!