Who wants to fail? I bet no one. Failure not only crushes you, it also wastes your time or money. Sometimes, it does both. Unfortunately, we can't run away from failure-unless we die.
What you have to do is learn how to pick yourself up and move on with your life.
Sara Blakely story
A story is told of Sara Blakely, an enthusiastic entrepreneur who lost in Richard Branson's reality TV show, "Rebel Billionaire." While many people have failed in life and business, Sara's story is unique as she moved from one failure to the other without giving up.
After losing in the show, she started selling fax machines, a business that also failed miserably. She then started selling pantyhose. According to Sara, she spent over two years in it and made no sales to brag about.
While still doing her pantyhose business, she saw a red backpack from her mom's attic which became her trademark. She could walk with it to her presentations and at some point people started making fun of her.
Using the backpack as a signature, she started Sarah Blakely foundation, a foundation that sends women to college and helps them start their businesses.
Every woman sent to college or helped to start a business is given a backpack. According to Sarah, the women are usually more excited of the backpack than the money. Sara says that the backpack acts as a symbol of the women's potential.
Sara Blakely foundation has over the years grown and so has the pantyhose business. Now, the pantyhose company generates over $250 million in revenue every year.
Picking yourself from failure
Sara's story is a true definition of the never giving up attitude. You should always pick yourself up and move ahead regardless of what happens in your life. This is usually easily said than done. Here are tips to help you pick yourself after failure:
View your failures as a life lesson: for every failure you encounter you learn something new. When Sara failed at selling fax machines she learnt that people were moving away from using the machines thus she had to start something new.
Failures mean that it's not the right time: you should realize that when you fail at something it doesn't mean that you can't do it or you are weak. It sometimes means that the time is not yet right.
Sticking with the story of Sara, although, her pantyhose business didn't excel initially, it later came to be successful and profitable.
Conclusion
The dictionary defines failure in four ways:
- Lack of success
- A fracturing or giving way under stress
- Failing to do or perform
- The inability to perform a normal function adequately
Regardless of the definitions you need to realize that you will definitely face failure in your life. For you to be successful you need to overcome it.
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