Expect to fail!

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but this is a reality in life, you’re going to fail and get something wrong, a lot. The question is how will your respond? On a basic level this video by Mark Rober captures a thought of how we should respond. Mark is a former Nasa Scientist who posts very uplifting fun videos about science online. In this TED talk he talks about what he calls the Super Mario effect. Essentially we should treat life like a video game where we fail a lot. Instead of being a Sulking Sally, as we do in life, we can use those failures as learning moments. Just like the video game, we never give up in advancing to the next level. This creates a positive consequence, instead of wallowing in our failure and negative effects. Essentially we learn from our mistakes.

Now on a deeper level, since my faith often intersects with my business. Yesterday was “Good Friday”. The name of a day with great irony. The person who we Christians believe to be God is innocently nailed to a cross by the government of His time, and executed. What a loser, you claim to be the messiah and the people you came to help, kill you and hand you over to be execute by the government at the time. What a crap show. It’s precisely in this moment however, we see the good, in Good Friday. Jesus knew the plan, but in his human weakness struggled with that plan. His faith in the original design of that plan kept him moving on, or as my shirt says “Carry On.”

This is important for us in business. You thought of the plan, and found some inspiration for the plan, eventually putting it in motion. Sometimes things don’t go exactly as planned, but our adaption is the key to our survival and growth. This is basic evolution. Not so much that we came from a monkey type of evolution, but the evolution that adapts to changing climates and conditions based on physical adaption, in addition to understanding the times. Our current Covid-19 situation is a reminder of that. Many businesses did not plan for this, some adapted, some closed, some linger in uncertainty. For me personally, it’s why I designed things to have low overhead.

I wrote a couple months back that I came close to taking on more overhead and purchasing a pizza shop that I was going to merge with my coffee concept. The company that owned the shop were very misleading and I saw it was not worth the risk since it was too far from my plan and vision. They were unwilling to compromise with what I needed to be successful with my vision. I felt like a failure when things fell through. I was so close to doing something big, or so I thought. Nearly 2 months later, everything changed and now they’re stuck with a failing business that was rocked by this economy and recently reduced in price, while I was protected and insulated from taking on more debt and problems than I should handle at the moment. Rejection is God’s protection, and failure can be a moment we are called to learn something, and be put in the direction we need to go. There will be a resurrection if we trust in the plan, all economies go through down times.

Warren Buffet might be the greatest teaching to this. He was asked how much he lost in 2008 when the economy crashed. His response was simple, “I lost nothing, because I never sold anything.” He was patient in his plan as a businessman and his investments found new life when things turned around. It should be noted he also made big investments during this time as well, buying things for a bargain, knowing things would improve in time. He found opportunity where others saw failure. Next time you see failure, know that somewhere in that moment, success is right around the corner, it could be 3 days, it could be 3 years, wait for it though and carry on. If it’s meant to be it’ll eventually happen, just have to keep balance of moving forward in life, while staying true to the vision.