Have You Joined the Spectacularly Unsuccessful Club Yet?

Today two clients had the same experience – an event that had been a spectacular disaster.

They were licking their wounds and learning the lessons from the experience in stunning style.

Instead of the “build it and they will come” scenario they had planned, one basically would have been better at the beach on the day of the event and the other had to take a big bite of humble pie and cancel their event.

They entered the Spectacularly Unsuccessful Club with honours.

If you haven’t made the “Spectacularly Unsuccessful Club” many would say you just aren’t trying hard enough.

I’ve found the not trying hard enough concept, although harsh and hard, to be exactly true. If you aren’t pushing yourself outside your comfort zone and trying new things and new ways to present and promote your business then at best you are probably working within your comfort zone and are at worst in a rut.

I have found it to be 100% true that people who are prepared to have a go and accept failing as just an inevitable blimp on the path to success are the ones who get the most success in the long term.

Please don’t get me wrong I’m not saying set yourself up to fail and everything will be OK. What I am saying is be open to having a go at new things and if they don’t work out as well as you hoped they may, learn the lessons and gain the knowledge that will make it a success the next time.

Failing is only failure if you:

1. Don’t study and learn the lessons why the failure occurred.

2. You take the same actions or in-actions that got you in hot water the last time

So what went wrong?

As my clients and I discussed the finer details of their event implosion we got to the truth of why their efforts had less than bodacious outcomes. They both came up with exactly the same answer which was not enough targeted marketing action soon enough.

They both knew “the right actions” to take – they simply didn’t take them fast enough.

Lack of appropriate and timely marketing in anything you do will inevitably cause mediocre outcomes but when you put that in the event arena, no matter how big or small your event is - you are sure to have problems.

The reality of facing what really happened after all the “buts” and “ifs” were put to rest was enlightening for both parties. Both then dug a little deeper and realized there were messages for them at a much higher level. Both will have much more successful events in the future on every level because they got clear on their message and they got clear on what actions they had to take long before the event date was looming on the horizon.

The Magic Occurs Outside Your Comfort Zone

I celebrated both those gutsy women because I knew that they were truly “getting it” because they had set up events that really only got mediocre response. Does this mean I’ve gone completely barking mad? No, simply because I know they won’t do it again because they well and truly learned their lessons. It hurt so hard that the wisdom is now burnt in their brains.

Humans Are Drawn To A Lesson Like Bugs To A Flame

Sure there are sensible ways to learn our lessons. There are libraries full of books that tell us how to NOT do things a certain way and my website is full of things that will help you get it right the first time.

BUT humans tend to like to do things the hard way.

I from my own experiences have found that I’ve learnt my greatest lessons from my greatest times of darkness and my blatant need to express my stuff-up-ability at every turn. I reckon I’ve turned around and run straight back into the same fire many times until I finally learnt my lesson and stepped out of the fire and stepped up into my purpose.

Without Guts There Is No Glory

The “Kleenex Experiences” on my journey to make my dream of working positively with people come true have always been from gutsy moves. You know the ones that would have been better left alone and me following the tried and true path.

"Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path
and leave a trail."
Muriel Strode

Frequently the mistakes outdid my triumphs twenty to one but when those triumphs finally came I’ve had something to meter them against and have truly revealed in the glory.

So if there is so much to learn in failure I have two questions:

1 Why do we feel so much shame when we make a mistake or have a go and don’t exactly get the desired outcome?

2. Why is the personal development industry so hell bent and setting expectations of perfection that most can never attain and if they do attain the perfection they can’t grow from it?

I don’t know the answer to those questions but they are worth us thinking about.

What I am doing is applauding loudly every time one of you does something that takes you outside your comfort zone even if the outcomes are less than perfect because I know you are putting yourself in a place where glory can find you. And who knows you might even get it right the first time!

The five key things I have learned about challenging situations are:

1. The sun comes up tomorrow and the situation never seems as bad as it was the day before

2. Take the hard decision as soon as you see the error of your ways

3. Make the error as “right” as you can as quickly as you can and then figure out how you can do better next time

4. Actually take the actions in step 2 & 3

5. Hang onto your hat because you are about to take a big leap forwards

As I’ve worked through the pain of some of my very memorable stuff ups my personal development has been gigantic to the point now where I seek to challenge myself at every chance. Sure I get myself in hot water from time to time but to date the world hasn’t ended. Instead awesome opportunities have always presented themselves once I understand and act on the lesson.

If you have joined the “Spectacularly Unsuccessful Club” why not leave a comment and share your story of how you grew from a not so pleasant experience.