How to Master Failing with James Heller: Episode 44

So many of us are so terrified of failure that we avoid any possibility of risk and adventure.

We squash life-changing ideas that come into our heads because we’re scared of taking a risk.

We ignore our vision for a more fulfilling lifestyle because we’re afraid of the consequences if we fail.

Instead, we choose avenues that will allow us to stay complacent, and we continue to make the same mistakes that led to our original setbacks.

But as our guest on Episode 44 reveals, failing often and failing well is vital to living a fulfilling life.

Where others see failure as a threat to their survival, James Heller believes that it’s his greatest teacher. Rather than becoming discouraged, James embraces his setbacks and uses these lessons to grow and pursue more opportunities.

So how exactly does James master failing?

View failure as a teacher: [7:29]

“[Failure] is so important for entrepreneurs because academia doesn’t structure learning in a way that’s applicable to being an entrepreneur. In academia,  failure is discouraged whereas in real life failure is a teacher. The only way I learn is by trying really hard, failing, figure out where I went wrong and [how to] do better.”

Where our fear of failure stems from: [21:34]

“If you really break it all down, failure is the fear of death [and the desire for] survival. If you fail and don’t have a job or money, then you can't afford a home or food. People go back to work because it’s comfortable, but they’re also scared of the risk of losing it all. But if you’re not afraid of failing, and you’ve also proven to yourself that you can do whatever you put your mind to, then you can be a really focused entrepreneur.”

Getting over our fear of failure: [25:05]

“Just fail. The best way to get good at anything is to do it, and you have to get good at failing. This means that you recognise what you did wrong and how you can do better.”

How we can pick ourselves up after failure: [43:55]

“You’ve got to keep moving fast and make decisions very quickly. [In business], you don’t have time to weigh up options because every day costs money and you may be in a cash burn situation. People often have a seize mentality where they seize up and do nothing. But you need to fail fast, figure it out and make the next move. Make small little failures to get to a quick success rather than do nothing and run out of cash.”

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For more gems of wisdom from this Forbes 30 Under 30 nominee, check out the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gAEKq-a