What if starting today, the word no stopped shutting you down? What if every time you heard the word no you became stronger? And what if the greatest success strategy in the world was not to focus on increasing your successes but your failures?
Top performers understand that failure is not an obstacle but actually a stepping stone on the path to success.
The more we fail the more we succeed, so we should start setting “no” goals. Most people would be shocked to count the number of times they heard “no” in a typical week because the number would be so low. Yet when we go out of our way to increase the number of times we fail (the no’s) the yes’s will be greater than we ever could imagine.
Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. ~ Winston Churchill
Of course we all like to celebrate our successes. But if the key to success is to increase our failure rate, then let’s celebrate our failures as well. I suggest you set a goal for the number of “no’s” you want to hear each day and each week. When you hit your goal say, “Great job. I’m that much closer to success.” On the surface this sounds silly, but celebrating failure is one of the best way to stop letting no have a negative impact on your thoughts, courage and your confidence.
Seize the opportunity to earn the no’s; and never let setbacks stop your momentum. As Donald Trump shared, “failure is not permanent.”
Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz write in their sales training book “Go for No: Yes is the destination, No is how you get there” that you should actively seek out the number of “no’s” you can get in a day’s time. They quantify how to succeed with a very hard task of selling by using “rejection” as a positive tool to advance to more “yes’.”
Increase the number of times you fail and watch your successes soar!!
How many times a week do you actually hear “no?” Does is scare or frighten, or intimidate you? Can you remember when you heard “no” and had it propel you to something even greater? Please share your experiences of growing by being told no. I’d love to hear your experiences!
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Kristi Royse is CEO of KLR Consulting
She inspires success in leaders and teams with coaching and staff development
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Image source: beppegrillo.it
I guess the secret is knowing when to push through the hard times and when to cut and run. This very topic was the subject of Seth Godin’s book ‘The Dip’ and it raises some interesting questions.