Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a motivational speaker who can speak about XXX at your next business event. Contact us to check availability. The full transcript of the above video is included below.
 

 

Full Video Transcript:

 
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Strategic Business Insights. Today we’re going to talk about failure and how important it is to succeed. I’ve written a couple of books in the past, three books so far, and I’ll tell you, one of the next books I’m going to write is going to be called Fail Your Way to Success, because that’s like the story of my life, man. I mean, I’m like a professional failure. I failed at everything I’ve ever done, the first time, but then you do it again. You learn. You learn the first time, you do it again. Maybe you fail a second time, and you try it again and you try it again. Eventually, you figure it out.

Here’s the thing. Listen to this. You rarely learn in victory. You only learn in defeat. Why is that? Because when you’re victorious, when you win, you just celebrate. You crack open a Corona, you have a shot of tequila, you sit back and relax, enjoy a good dinner. You won. You celebrate. People celebrate in victory. What do they do in defeat?

What they do in defeat is very, very important. They do one thing that is super-important. They ask why. Why did I lose? Why did I not get what I wanted? Why did it not work out? The question “why” is critical, because the question why leads to learning.

Failure is learning. If you don’t fail, you don’t learn. You just celebrate. You never learn anything. Maybe you do a little bit, but very few people learn a lot in victory. They learn in defeat.

Defeat is the key. Being shot down, not getting what you want, that’s when you sit down and you analyze. You say, “Okay, what happened? What could I have done differently? Why did that happen? Why did it not work the way I thought it would work?” And you contemplate and you think and you learn. Failure is essential. Failure is essential if you want to succeed long-term.

So my advice to you is—you want to succeed? Here’s the thing. Failure means you tried something. Failure means you tried something you haven’t done before or maybe that you’re not that good at. Maybe you’ve only done it a few times. Because if you failed, you haven’t figured it out yet. Failure means you tried. Failure means you pushed your comfort zone out a little bit. Failure means you took a step forward.

People who don’t do anything, they don’t fail very often because they never take a risk. They never try. They never put themselves in a position to win or lose.

You know what? I’ve said this in other videos: Most people are in a boredom trance. They’re in a trance. They don’t even realize what’s going on. They just commute to work, they do their work, they come home, they complain about their work, they sleep, they get up, they do it all over again. People don’t do anything out of the ordinary. They just live their lives and they never take any risks, which means they never really win, they never really fail.

If you failed, it means you tried. And I’ll tell you what. My life, I have more failure in my life than almost anyone I can think of and I’m proud of it. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve tried so many things. And I would say at least two-thirds of the things that I’ve tried, they didn’t work out the way I wanted. Lots of things that I tried didn’t work out the way I wanted, but I’m constantly trying new things and putting myself in a position to win, but also in a position potentially to fail. Because when I fail, I learn. And then you figure it out.

That’s what my life is all about, is trying things and trying to figure it out, thinking it through. That’s why I have so many different things to say, because I’m constantly thinking about these things and thinking, “Why does it work the way it does?” And I try something and maybe it succeeds, but probably the first time around it fails. And then I think about it more. “Wow, I thought it was this way but it wasn’t. It was actually that way.” And I try it again. And so you develop familiarity and knowledge around that subject, because you take risks, because you try things, and because you fail along the way.

So if you want to succeed in life, my advice to you is fail more. Fail more. Go and try new things and be willing to fail. And when you fail, sit down and think it through and learn from it, and you’ll do it better the next time.

Thanks so much for watching this video. Once again this is Patrick reminding you to think bigger about your business, think bigger about your life.
 

 
Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a keynote speaker who has spoken at business conferences in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.