If you want to become unrecognizably successful this year, you must know how to fail fast and learn faster.
It’s not enough to create Pinterest vision boards and say daily affirmations. You need to take action, be willing to look stupid, try something new, and learn from your mistakes so that you can evolve into your dream self.
Success comes to those who earn it.
- Are you willing to pay the price?
- Are you ready to be uncomfortable and go through periods of uncertainty and insecurity?
- How bad do you want your dream life?
The cost of success is failure… but then recalibration, perseverance and resilience.
What Is the Fail Fast Mindset?
The fail-fast mindset is about experimentation and data collection. You are the scientist or inventor exploring equations to figure out the right combination to create your dream life.
Failing is data, nothing more, nothing less.
It doesn’t mean you are a failure or that you failed and will never succeed. It means you know what ways don’t work for you.
As Thomas Edison famously said ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’
For example, I took on a sales job in the summer to get hands-on experience doing door-to-door sales because that’s what all great entrepreneurs do (right?).
I lasted 4 days.
During my last shift, I cried on the tube because I was tired, hangry and accidentally got on the wrong tube home.
Door-to-door sales weren’t for me. Mainly for the long hours and surprisingly not from the actual door-to-door-sales-part (I weirdly enjoyed that).
I could’ve labelled myself a failure and had a pity party but I didn’t.
I analysed the data I collected:
- I spoke to all kinds of people from every demographic
- I learnt about the law of averages
- I practised a sales script 100s of times and learnt how to close a deal
It was a mini side quest that built my confidence and taught me sales faster than any book or course could.
Failure isn’t a measurement of your worth and it doesn’t mean you are never going to achieve your dreams. It is just data showing you that when you:
- Try this thing
- And that thing
- In this specific way
- You get X result
If you want to fail fast, you first have to see failure differently.
Related Post: The Healthy Striving Mindset: How to Stay Ambitious and Keep Your Peace
Why You Need to Fail Fast to Move Forward
1. Stop Letting Perfectionism Keep You Stuck
Dreamers don’t get to live their dreams in real life. It only ever remains a dream.
If you want to change your whole life you can’t do that with the mindset of procrastinating and dreaming. You need to be a doer.
As a recovering perfectionist, I know how painful it can be just to start. But think of it this way: how many more years are you going to let your perfectionism control you? The life you want to live is on the other side of your fear of failure.
Related Post: Are You Stuck in the Perfectionism-Procrastination Loop? Here’s How to Get Out
2. Let Go of Your Ego
When you tie your self-worth to your career, achievements and education, you sentence yourself to ‘playing the rules’. You will live a boring, unfulfilled life because you’re scared of letting others down or being found out as being not good enough.
If you want to break the shackles of your ‘role-self’ and start living as your true-self, you’ll need to get used to feeling rejection and uncertainty.
Remind yourself of this famous quote ‘You only look crazy until it works. Then you’re a genius.’
For example, I know I looked stupid a lot in 2024. Many people didn’t understand what I was doing and why I posted on Linkedin but my business is growing rapidly because of it.
@thevaluedlife Once i realised this simple fact my life changed for the better #mindsetcoach #lifecoach #goalsetting #lifehacks #lifequotes #happiness #beyourself #lovelife #lifeisforliving #trysomethingnew #trysomethingnewtoday #trysomethingnewchallenge #changeyourlife #changeyourmindset #liveyourdreams #liveyourlifetothefullest #yolo ♬ original sound – Teresa Richards
Good Failure vs. Bad Failure
There is a difference between good failure and bad failure:
Good Failure:
- Teaches clear lessons
- Happens quickly
- Aligns with your values
- Motivates you to try again
Bad Failure:
- Comes from blindly failing with no plan
- No reflection or adaptation
- Blame, shame and negative thought loops
- You quit without ever understanding why
All failure is a learning experience, but you must choose to learn from it.
Related Post: 7 Growth Mindset Myths That Keep You Stuck
How to fail faster and be successful
1. Reframe failure as a learning opportunity
Failure is not an identity trait. It’s not a reflection of your inherent worth as a human being. It is just feedback and part of the process.
You’ve survived every bad thing that happened to you and it has shaped you into the person you are today. Instead of fearing failure, see it as data collection.
And while affirmations aren’t enough by themselves to help you become unrecognizably successful, they are great for helping you shift your mindset towards action.
You are not a failure; you are someone who is learning and that’s beautiful.
Here are some affirmations that can help you:
- I am unstoppable because I know how to start again
- I’m learning what works and what doesn’t work which is helping me grow as a person
- I’m proud of myself for putting myself out there
- I am stronger than my fear
- I trust the process and let go of the outcome
- I am adaptable and resourceful in any situation
Check out the full list here: 75 Powerful Affirmations to Overcome Fear of Failure
2. Create a plan that’s 60% good enough
Don’t get trapped overplanning. Aim for the 60% good enough plan and get on with it.
A plan that covers the big picture and is 60% complete is 1000% better than a plan that never gets executed because it’s all in your head.
Act with urgency.
Channel your Main Character Energy and believe in your plot armour. So even if things fall apart, it still works out for the best because the plot of your life requires it.
- It’s a lesson
- It’s a set-up for something better
- It’s evidence of your strength
Whatever it is, collect the data from your ‘good enough’ plan and adapt it based on the evidence you have collected. Your plan will improve over time as long as you are consciously seeing it as an experiment.
Related Post: The 5-4-3-2-1 Goal-Setting Method To Get Your Life Back On Track (Example Included)
3. Be consistent and keep testing
You might want to be a green smoothie, wake-up-at-5-am-Pinterest-girlie, but if you’re not a morning person, it’s better to figure it out sooner rather than later.
Identifying your energy peaks and dips and working WITH yourself is more efficient than trying to make 5 am work when it’s just not going to happen.
Self-awareness is key.
The only way you’re going to know what works is to be consistent and test your assumptions. Experiment with different routines, habits, and approaches. Track your progress to spot patterns and adapt your strategy.
For example, do a 30-day 5 am morning routine and at the end of it reflect on whether it worked for you.
Related Post: 5 energy management techniques to elevate your life
4. Collect data and amend
Data collection and storage are essential if you want to become successful.
You must have a method of keeping track of your failures and experiments. It could be as simple as a weekly review in your bullet journal or planner.
Or you could be methodical and use a spreadsheet or database to log every attempt you make.
Don’t store it in your mind! You will forget how it felt to experience your failure and may end up repeating the same mistakes as the details of the event fade.
Failure is only wasted if you don’t learn from it.
And as Peter Drucker says “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”
Ask yourself these questions:
- What worked?
- What didn’t work?
- What should I do differently next time?
- Did I stay true to my core values during this process?
- Was my timeline realistic?
- What lessons did I learn?
Related Post: Feel More Organised by Monday with This Weekly Planning Routine
5. Share your failures
It feels counterintuitive to share your failures with the world but it could bring you success faster than you ever imagined.
Sharing your failures makes you human.
Nowadays, anyone can whip up a ChatGPT article or a LinkedIn post without ever experiencing the topic they are discussing.
You can build a personal brand around trying new things, showing your work and having lived experience.
Everybody loves the underdog.
And you’ll be surprised at the opportunities that come your way just from having the courage to look stupid in front of people.
For example, there are YouTubers and Podcasters that I wholeheartedly support because I feel a connection to the projects they are working on. I feel like I am part of their journey because they share the highs, lows and lessons they have discovered along the way.
You can be that person. You can have cheerleaders supporting you along your journey and encouraging you to keep going when you feel like giving up. Community is everything.
Start by sharing your updates on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube or even LinkedIn. Wherever feels like a safe place for you. You can start with a brand new account or share it with your family and friends.
Just put your work out into the world and see what happens.
So are you going to fail fast or what?
Do you know what is worse than failure? Giving up or never getting started in the first place.
The easiest way to get over your fear of failure is to fail fast and learn from it.
Remember, absolutely nothing happens when you ‘think’ of a plan. It remains a dream. You need to be a doer and act with urgency to collect data and make amendments. That’s when you will start becoming the ideal version of yourself.
That’s when you change your life and become unrecognizably successful.
See your life as an experiment. Make it fun, see what works and what doesn’t. Bring other people on the journey with you and build a community around it. You are the Main Character of your life so act like it! (Within reason).
Start today. What is a small failure experiment you could try right now?
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