Sometimes you need to hear or read something a few times before you finally have an ‘aha’ moment.

And for me, it was when I was reading Steven Bartlett’s ‘Diary of a CEO’. One of his 33 laws for business and for life is: You must out-fail the competition.

Now we ALL know that don’t we?  For me, probably the most memorable quote on failure is: ‘I have not failed I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work’ (Thomas Edison). Or Arianna Huffington’s ‘Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success’. 

So guess what? I *know* that failing is critical to success. But for whatever reason, it was the way Steven Bartlett phrased it that stopped me dead in my tracks. Out-failing the competition spoke to me. It felt like a practical challenge.  And I rather like a challenge and getting practical.

By way of context, I have been *thinking* about developing a new business opportunity for 18 months. Then, 9 months ago I signed up to a course to *learn* how to capitalise on this business opportunity. But guess what?  I have done practically nothing to apply my thinking and learning. Yes I know, quite unbelievable given what I do! I’m writing this and weeping. So yesterday, I financially committed to start failing. A nauseating amount. And the only thing for it is to start failing and failing quickly.

Obviously, I’m thinking how does this apply to you? Whatever you are working on this applies to you. But here are a few ideas:

• Are you failing to have an impact? Well done. Great feedback. What would make that 1% difference?
• Are you failing to raise money? Excellent. Stop what you are doing and start trying something else.
• Are you still getting the same feedback at performance reviews? What haven’t you been doing?
• Are you still resentful of everyone else? How are you going to change that?
• Are your LinkedIn posts receiving no traction? Yes? So what can you do differently?

You are so capable.
The question is: are you failing enough?