What's Wrong With Failure?

An excerpt from the October 26, 2008 meeting

Failure?
We're taught in school that things are either right or wrong. We either understood or we didn't. In most cases our parents taught us the same way and clearly the Bible is very black and white on many issues. However, even in the scriptures the way God calls for us to deal with failure is very different than how most people practice it. When we sin and fall short, God calls for us to repent, change our ways, and seek His forgiveness.

As Christians, we know that Christ paid the price for our failures on the cross at Calvary. It also says that God chooses to remember our transgressions no more, burying them in the deepest parts of the ocean, or as far as the east is from the west! Most of us however, continue to hold on to the memories of our failure and often limit ourselves by dwelling on them long after God Himself has pushed them aside.

No One Gets It Right All The Time
There has probably never been a Big Goal achieved, or a project done anywhere, anytime that didn't have a number of failures spread along the way. Even with the best forward and contingency planning, stuff is going to happen that nobody could anticipate. Things will always go wrong. This isn't some "negative" confession, just a statement of truth. If we do enough things, some percentage of them will miss the mark! Some by a little. Some by a lot!

When our plans get derailed what choices do we have? One option is to give up. Realize that we've missed it, maybe even missed God with our dream or mission. We can stop and feel bad for ourselves; maybe repent and try something else. More than likely that will fail too and the cycle will begin over again.

Successful people recognize that a failure is a place to examine and learn from. It's a time to reflect on what went wrong and creatively develop a new and better plan that will still take them to the next milestone. They bob and weave and keep on pushing towards that dream!

W. Edwards Deming is considered by many as "Father of Quality." One of the many things he gave the world was something referred to as the Continuous Improvement Cycle. It applies as much to our own lives as it does to running a business.

The Continuous Improvement Cycle
Plan - Every project or goal starts with a plan, considering the details of what must be done and how we will do it.
Do - Get started! Begin working the plan immediately.
Check - After you've begun to see the results of your actions Evaluate what impact they had. Are you on target or missing it?
Act or Adjust - Understand where your original plan "failed" and learn from it. Take that new understanding and use it to develop a new and better plan. Start the refined process all over again.

Recognize that failure is a normal, natural part of life. Everyone has failed who has ever attempted anything. You will not be the exception. The question is - will it make you stronger and smarter and more able to do it better the second time? Or will it crush you, demoralize you and cause you to quit? Don't quit! Don't think of it as failure. The bumps in the road are there to learn from and you'll avoid them next time around!

The following is an excerpt from the meeting:

Failure and the the Continuous Improvement Cycle Audio Clip