5 Ways Failing Fast Will Make You More Successful
Things You Should Know if Want to Be a High Achiever
The idea that failing fast will make you more successful sounds counterintuitive, especially if you don’t like to fail.
Whenever you have an experience you consider a failure, it can affect your identity and self-confidence. The meaning you give and how you interpret failure will determine whether you eventually succeed.
Accepting that failing fast is beneficial will require a mindset shift.
What Does Failing Fast Mean?
Failing fast is about the speed at which you can receive feedback and course-correct when aiming for an outcome. It’s about dealing with small issues early, before they cause bigger issues later.
Think of failing fast similar to an experiment. Whenever you experiment with something, there is no guarantee it will work out. However, you will quickly know if your idea is valid.
If you develop an experimentation mindset, it will enable you to tweak your approach much faster. This will help you be more agile and implement ideas at a faster speed.
In product creation, there is a concept called “minimum viable product.” This is the initial working version of a product that can be released into the marketplace, to gather feedback for improvement.
The advantage of using this concept is you will know whether your product is viable much sooner.
If you adopt failing fast as an operating principle, you can achieve the outcomes you want a lot quicker.
5 Ways Failing Fast Will Make You More Successful
Here are five ways failing fast can support you in achieving what you want and make you more successful.
- You will become more adaptable, flexible and agile. Failure is feedback an approach has not given you the result you want. If you know something is not working early, you can change your focus and course-correct much quicker. That will help you become more flexible and adapt as needed.
- You will avoid wasting valuable resources. Time, money and energy are resources you don’t want to waste. If you know something is not working and can make changes swiftly, you will reduce your costs and save time.
- You will learn a lot faster. Adopting the mindset of failing fast means you are open to feedback and not attached to how things should be. This will increase your chances of success long-term, because your ideas or products are tested and validated a lot quicker.
- You will develop new systems or ways of doing things. Whenever you experience a failure, you will have more clarity on what not to do and what outcomes you are aiming to achieve. This means you will refine and improve what you are doing until you achieve the outcomes you want.
- You will develop resilience and persistence. Failure often builds mental muscles and resilience. This will allow you to stay in motion and continually take action. The more action you take, the more feedback you will receive, which will allow you to make changes as needed.
The Dangers of Failing Fast
Even though there are advantages to failing fast, there are also things to consider so it does not affect adversely you. Here are five dangers of failing fast you need to remember.
- Your attitude, moral and confidence will be affected, if you allow it.
- You will experience short-term financial losses.
- You may struggle to let go of a failure if your ego gets in the way.
- You will put additional strain on your closest relationships.
- You may question your intent, abilities and commitment.
Final Thoughts
Failing fast gives you experience and feedback a lot quicker. It’s often said failure is a necessary ingredient for success. This means if you fail fast, you are on your way to success.
If you are not willing to fail fast, you won’t learn what you need to become a high achiever. This means you will not achieve the outcomes or create the experiences you want.
Action Step: Decide what failing fast means to you. Identify ways you can use it to become a better achiever, without affecting your lifestyle.
Question: What are other ways failing fast will make you more successful?
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