“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” ~ Elon Musk

Most people are afraid of failure. Yet, there is nothing new about failure, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of either. No one wants to fail at what they do, especially if it’s something they’re very invested in.

Elon Musk has a very simple way of not letting the prospect of failure get in his way, according to Jenny Medeiros at Goalcast. He doesn’t avoid failure or hope that it doesn’t happen, instead, he anticipates that it will occur.

Getting comfortable with the idea of failing isn’t easy. But there are steps, according to Medeiros, you can take to create a well-thought contingency plan when failure happens.

1. Take a pen and paper right and write down a project you’ve always been meaning to start but haven’t due to the fear of not being successful.
2. Now, write down the absolute worst-case scenario for that project. It could be losing money, wasting time, public embarrassment, etc.
3. Next, break down the causes of this worst-case scenario. Then cross out the ones that are out of your control.
4. Finally, write a contingency plan for each cause you can control. If you’re worried that no one will want to buy your designer socks, your plan could be to re-use those designs on other products like t-shirts or even notebooks.

The important thing here is to always expect and be willing to embrace failure, and be ready for it. Only then will it stop being the reason you don’t move forward with your goals.

Surrendering to failure is never the answer. Instead, learning from your mistakes is the best gift you can give yourself to improve not only whatever new invention, business venture or dream you undertake, but to evolve as individual, leader and innovator.

Musk learned from his own mistakes. He says:

“Constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

“The biggest lesson you can learn from Musk is to never, ever give up on your goals,” writes Bonnie Burton in an Inc Magazine article. “Life has a pesky way of placing big obstacles in your path — whether it be unmotivated employees, health emergencies, failed experiments, impostor syndrome and so many more unexpected roadblocks.”

References:

1. https://www.goalcast.com/elon-musks-1-tactic-to-never-be-afraid-of-failure/
2. https://www.inc.com/bonnie-burton/a-big-lesson-new-inventors-can-learn-from-elon-musks-mistakes.html