DUBAI: An 18-time best-selling author who started out as a book packager said people should not avoid failure like it’s the plague.
Seth Godin, author and former dot com executive, said people miss the whole point when they stay on their toes to avoid being vulnerable to failure.
“Being aware of your fear is smart. Overcoming it is the mark of a successful person,” Godin said.
Marketing strategist Sonia Thompson, citing Godin said: “The rule is simple: The person who fails the most will win. If I fail more than you do, I will win. Because in order to keep failing, you’ve got to be good enough to keep playing.”
So, Thompson said, “if you fail cataclysmically and never play again, you only fail once. But if you are always there creating and starting things, you will learn endless things.”
“You will learn to see more accurately, you will learn the difference between a good idea and a bad one and, most of all, you will keep producing,” she said.
Here are two quick points to consider, she said:
• Detach yourself from results
Failing doesn’t mean you are a screw-up. Or a bad person. It just means the approach you took to reach your desired result didn’t quite work, said Thompson.
• Adopt the growth mindset
Come to think of it, Thompson said, You’re not born knowing how to do everything. Talent, brilliance, and being good at something isn’t a fixed trait, it’s something you develop over time with deliberate practice.
