Why Are Entrepreneurs Obsessed with Failing?

Subscriber Content

The above quote reinforces our idea that this stage is the basis of something bigger. The list of obstacles that increase frustration is endless. Clinging to a co-founder, ineffective products, cash expenditure, operational difficulties, legal problems, physical and emotional exhaustion, loneliness, self-pity… almost anything and everything that will take you down.

Any healthy person right now will break, and so will you (the best of you). Abraham Lincoln, after failing as a captain, businessman, lawyer, and several times as a politician, wrote in a letter to his friend: “I am now the most miserable man in life. If what I feel were distributed equally to the entire human family, there would be no cheerful face on earth.”

There are other stories like those of David Harland Sanders, the famous KFC, who could not sell his chicken, and was rejected by more than 1,000 restaurants. Stephen King, after being rejected by 30 publishers was so frustrated with his first novel, Carrie, that he threw it in the trash.

While these are known, there may be many other untold stories, which never came into the spotlight.

These fragments of life of some of the most successful people tell us that failure is inevitable, and also breakdown in one way or another. If you’re in the same phase, still don’t think starting a business isn’t your thing. (We recommend you read: New Business Ideas).

MASOCHISTIC PLEASURE OF FAILURE

After being hit by circumstances and misfortune, there may be a brief period of inactivity, because you now hate the same business idea or vision you were once obsessed with. But even before you have fully recovered from the wounds of the past you will find yourself haunted again by the same incessant urge to conquer that, that without which, you feel that your life is meaningless.
This is because you are one of the species that not only adapt to ecosystems, but transform it to adapt to you as well. This impulse is precisely what separates the specials from the rest of the world, and not any talent, skill, intelligence or success per se.

Now, after you get up, there are two very interesting ways you could be different than you were before. When you started to know about your strengths, and that’s precisely why you thought you could do it. And now your failures that have introduced yourself and you can see all the weaknesses you have.

Basically, your internal conflicts and struggles with only your external factors have been eliminated. The second interesting part is that you will be perceived by society as nothing less than a madman, and you will make them wonder what keeps you ahead despite repeated setbacks.

The answer to this has less to do with great motivation and could have more to do with a mysterious addiction of masochistic pleasure, stemming from the pain inflicted by failure. The pleasure is to climb back up in the midst of adversity, every time you fall, you develop a heroic perception of yourself, which ultimately leads one to despair and boldness.

Call it crazy if you will, but I consider it a survival instinct or a mental defense mechanism that these creatures called entrepreneurs are born with.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius

“Never give up, never give up, never, never, never, never – in anything, big or small, big or small – never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up” – Winston Churchill

“The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate” – Thomas Watson

The above quotes give us insight into the obsession with failure that these great souls might have developed over a period of time. Being able to find glory in failure is the most enlightening part of this journey. If you are an entrepreneur we invite you to read: Why a new business fails and how to soften the blows.

THAT PART OF LIFE THAT’S CALLED MADNESS

This stage is activated when one experiences a successful attack out of thin air. It could come in the form of an idea that makes you feel like it’s supposed to be, or a window of some business opportunity that opens up to show only the right path.

There will be a time when somehow time and space will align perfectly, and everything is going to happen the way you had planned (Yes, I’m talking about the law of attraction). The only point of not giving up is that you have to be there when it happens.

It is that moment when all the repressed frustration and disappointment within you is going to be transformed into enthusiasm and positive energy of equivalent magnitude. This is why failure is a slow but natural way for success, so it gives you nothing less than the best, when the time is right.

“You can’t force ideas. Successful ideas are the result of slow growth” – Alexander Graham Bell.

This stage is further characterized by a frenzy of free-flowing ideas and creativity, the opening of an entrepreneur’s mind to new perspectives and thinking style that he never had access to. You become bolder, you take more risks, you experiment, and life is a journey full of madness.

While knowledge of management, marketing or business in general is necessary, not all of us have the professional knowledge to do so (whatever your circumstances), and if we decided to do it it would take years.

This is why it is necessary to look for professional places where they offer training in the areas that you do not know, so we recommend you to look among our business courses.