You ever get a metaphorical smack to the forehead? Yup – I did this week.
In fact, it was a one-two punch.
The first while doing my P90X workouts, and the second after reading an article in “The Director” – the trade magazine for the National Funeral Directors Association.
Weird huh? Let me explain.
The F-Word You Think I Mean . . .
. . . is probably more socially acceptable these days than the one I’m really talking about. Sad but true!
Some people would rather use the 4-letter version than admit to experiencing the 7-letter version.
I‘m talking about FAILURE.
My one-two smack down this week was the sheer realization that FAILURE is an absolute MUST. Not only a must, but something to be planned out, to be quickly reached and to be celebrated once it’s achieved.
Here’s how I got that knock upside the head!
P90X
I’m addicted to Tony Horton and P90X for one simple reason: It Works!
As crazy as he is, he spouts off some great advice while he’s making you sweat and groan and curse for an hour every day!
Here’s the smack-down I got from him this week:
Failure is a Requirement:
In weight training, in order to get results, you’ve got to do as many reps as you can until you experience failure. You go until you literally can’t do one more repetition. It is expected and required! That’s the only way a muscle will grow.
Failure Must Be Fast:
You also need to reach failure pretty quickly. If you want results, you need to be in the range of 8-10 reps. As Tony says, reps 6, 7 and 8 should be HARD! If they’re NOT hard, you need to up your weight. You don’t get results by doing 20 and 30 reps.
Failure Must Be Planned:
Write it down … write it down … write it down!
“Crazy Man Horton” says it all the time. If you don’t know what you did last time, how will you know what to do this time?
Every P90X resistance routine comes with a worksheet so you can keep track of the reps and weight on each move. You can’t quickly get to failure unless you refer back to the last time you did a routine and adjust your weights and reps accordingly.
Funeral Home Example
So yeah, I read funeral home magazines. (My hubby is a funeral director.)
They are fascinating! And they contain a lot of great business advice for all types of businesses.
Today I read “Learning to Fail Fast” by Daniel M. Isard, President of The Foresight Companies, LLC. He says exactly what Tony says, only in more sophisticated terms!
Failure is a Requirement:
Just as in weight training, in business you have to try new things if you want to make progress and achieve success. The way you go about that, and learn to fail fast, is the focus of Daniel Isard’s article.
Failure Must Be Fast:
Daniel says failing fast has 3 components:
1 – Failing
2 – Observing
3 – Making sure you correct your failure quickly – but not too quickly.
Failure Must Be Planned:
Daniel further says “We have to plan in order to fail. You will never be aware you’ve failed if you have nothing with which to compare it.” (Huh! Sounds like what Tony said.)
To fail fast, you must be prepared to make changes, and if they don’t work, you must be ready to stop the behavior.
Here’s the Thing
Now, when I reach that last excruciating rep in a bicep curl, here’s what happens:
- My arm collapses
- Groaning, I drop the weight in pure agony.
- I curse Tony on the screen (!)
- I write it down and then . . .
I give a big whoop because I KNOW I’ve reached a new milestone. I did exactly what was needed to strengthen that muscle and move on to the next level of success and I FEEL GREAT ABOUT IT!
Then I quickly move on to the next move.
And Here’s the Challenge
How can we do that same thing in business?
When we embark on a new project, try a new way of doing things or introduce a new product or service, and it reaches failure, let’s follow that P90X pattern:
- Collapse (experience the failed endeavor)
- Groan and Curse (have a brief emotional outburst)
- Write it Down (debrief, re-adjust, learn from it, plan your next move)
- Celebrate!
- Quickly move on to the next endeavor.
I’m pretty good at the collapsing, groaning and cursing part! I’m getting much better at the writing it down part.
It never occurred to me until I got this one-two smack down that I should CELEBRATE and FEEL GREAT ABOUT IT!
That’s my challenge for all of us this week. Let’s plan to work QUICKLY and HARD until failure. Celebrate when we reach it. And then repeat the process.
What About YOU?
How are you going to plan your fast failure this week?
In the comments below, let me know how you deal with failure and what you’re going to do THIS WEEK to reach failure more quickly.
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