What if failure isn’t the opposite of success, but the secret to it?
You’ve been avoiding it when you should have been chasing it.
The question is how fast you’re willing to try.
Welcome to Ask Coach Tony!
Hi, I’m Coach Tony, and this is Ask Coach Tony.
These are unfiltered field notes from the goal-crushing life: coaching wins, personal breakthroughs, and the failures that taught both me and my clients the most. All real, all useful, all here to help you move forward.
Got a goal that’s dying of loneliness? Just Ask Coach Tony.
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Someone ripped the 5th month out of my new calendar. I'm disMAYed.
Are You Failing Fast Enough to Reach Your Goal?
In today’s Ask Coach Tony, we will continue our focus on the taboo “F” word.
Failure.
While it might not be the F Word that just popped into your head. This “F” word is even more divisive.
This month, we will be focusing on The Power of the F Word.
Instead of dreading, fearing, and avoiding the F word, I want to help you see failing as succeeding. While today’s post is a next step in that process, your F Word breakthrough is waiting for you in this month’s Goal Crusher Coffee Chat, which we will talk about in a minute.
Failing Forward
I’m going to start today’s post by sharing one of my favorite quotes about failure:
If you were 30 failures away from your goal, how fast would you want to fail?
This quote highlights one of the most important parts of failure: failing forward.
When you fail forward, you use failures as learning experiences to fuel future success.
Thomas Edison failed over and over again in his quest to create the lightbulb. Every one of these failures helped him refine his design, resulting in the successful invention of the lightbulb we all use today. He famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that do not work.”
Eminem is an example of the saying, “your mess is your message.” He dropped out of high school, leading to many personal struggles with drugs and poverty, and he even attempted suicide. He parlayed these experiences into his music and was ranked as number 82 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Abraham Lincoln went to war as a captain and left the military after being demoted to a private. He went into private business and failed. That’s when he ran for public office and lost… 26 times. We all know how his story ended as he was elected president and ultimately helped end slavery.
Each of these stories, and hundreds of others like them, shows that failures are essential stepping stones to success. Without their failures, we might not have lightbulbs, a pivotal US president, or have learned to lose ourselves in the music, and we better never let it go.
Don’t believe in the power of failing forward? Just look at your own life.
You weren’t born knowing how to walk.
The first time you tried to pull yourself up, you fell back down.
You failed again and again, getting closer with every attempt.
Today, you know how to walk. All because you failed forward.
Failing Fast
When you start failing forward, you start looking at every failure as getting one step closer to your goal.
With that logic, it stands to reason that the faster you fail, the faster you succeed. That’s right, the secret to succeeding is failing fast and failing forward. That does not happen inside your comfort zone.
Are you sold on failing fast and failing forward, but aren’t sure how?
Want to start a business? Get your product out there into people’s hands as quickly as possible. Learn from their feedback and keep improving it.
Trying to sell something (including yourself)? Get out there and hear your first “no” as fast as you can. That “no” is one step closer to yes.
Want to get fit? Do one thing today to break free from your current habits. Even if it’s the wrong thing, you’re one step closer.
If you’re still not sure how to fail fast and fail forward with your goal, I can help. Drop me an email or DM with your goal, and I’ll help you brainstorm some ideas. If you’re not sure what your goal is, grab the Project Manage Your Life Starter Kit. It will help you finalize your goal and start building momentum today.
Failing Forward Together
It’s always easier to embrace failing fast and failing forward when you aren’t doing it alone.
That’s why I am hosting the next Goal Crusher Coffee Chat.
The Power of the F Word
Why failing is succeeding
In this session, I will share some secrets from my coach’s notebook that I use when talking failure with my clients.
Then, during our roundtable, we will each answer one simple question:
What is a failure that taught you more than success ever could?
If you’re ready to stop looking at failure as a setback and to start seeing it as a stepping stone, this conversation is for you.
Click below or visit OperationMelt.com/CoffeeChat to save your spot for this free event.
This month, you’ve learned to name failure. You’ve learned it isn’t a monster. Now it’s time to use it. Get out there, fail fast, and fail forward. Your goal is counting on it.
You’re here for a reason. Let’s take the next step.
Meet Coach Tony
Tony Weaver is a master life coach, technologist, consultant, writer, and founder of Operation Melt.
He helps project managers and other left-brained high-achievers pursue their biggest goals.
Through free resources, personalized coaching, and his proven Project Manage Your Life system, Tony empowers clients to move their dreams from “someday” to success… one step at a time.
Learn more about Project Manage Your Life, the system my clients and I use to crush our goals, at OperationMelt.com/PMYL/
