HOW TO OVERCOME FAILURE

One of the greatest obstacles to business success is fear, especially the fear of failure. Unsuccessful people are usually so afraid of failure they avoid risks that could lead to failure. To increase your success rate, you need to be willing to increase your failure rate. The fear of criticism is one of the deadliest forms of fear. We are usually afraid of someone coming up to show the defects in what we do. Most of us do not enjoy criticism at all and that is natural. But we cannot jeopardize our God-given dreams because of the opinions of other people. We must handle criticism wisely.

Sometimes, there are lessons to learn from criticism if we carefully examine what is said. Some other times we should just forge ahead despite whatever has been said. Critics will only run out of business when we stop achieving our God-given goals. We cannot stop because of them.

Another cause of failure is the fear of death.

It seems like the fear of death kills more people than death itself. We must have a correct attitude to death. While death is inevitable, we must believe by faith in God that we will not die before our time.

Dear friend, say to yourself right now: “I will not die, but live to declare the works of God.” Amen.

There is also the fear of ill health. We must combat this also with faith in the Word of God. Jesus took our sicknesses and pains on the cross and by His stripes we are healed.

Another major reason why people fail is the lack of a definite purpose.

Where there is no vision, the people perish. There is power in having a definite purpose in life. All things work together for good for those who live according to God’s purpose. If you are carrying out God’s assignment for your life, He will back you up all the way. Do you believe that what you are doing is what you were born to do?

Now, the first thing to do when we experience setback is to examine the reason for our setback. We must ask questions. This will help us, where possible to avoid a re-occurrence.

Secondly, we must seek counsel from those who have overcome similar setbacks in the past. The value of mentoring cannot be overemphasized for an entrepreneur. Someone has been through the same situation before.

Thirdly, we must develop a positive attitude again.

Failure is never final and a trial is never terminal. We cannot afford to identify ourselves by our failures. Failure as an event is different from failure as a person. That a venture has failed does not make us failures as persons. Don’t run yourself down. Just tell yourself you will do better next time.

Then, we need to make new choices. Success is not a matter of chances; success is a matter of choices. Success or failure is determined by decisions. Whenever we experience setbacks, there must be a change in the choices we have made. We must be prepared for change. Failure can be a sign we need to change direction. And we must choose first of all, to begin again. Learn as much as possible from your mistake, but focus on your vision. That will help you to put the situation in proper perspective.

Dear friend, it does not matter what the situation is today. You can rise again. It is not how high you fall that matters but how high you bounce. Begin to work out a new strategy. Be prepared to take a risk again. It is better to fail at something than to succeed at nothing.

Finally, take action. Do it again and again and again until it works out. We cannot fail until we fail to try. And I pray that your next attempt, under God’s guidance will be a resounding success.