Learning from Failure

It's not win or lose. It's win or learn.

The next time you experience a failure, think about why you failed instead of who was at fault. Try to look at it objectively so that you can do better next time. Here's a list of questions from John Maxwell to help you analyze any failure:

• What lessons have I learned?

• Am I grateful for the experience?

• How can I turn the failure into success?

• Practically speaking, where do I go from here?

• Who else has failed in this way before, and how can that person help me?

• How can my experience help others someday to keep from failing?

• Did I fail because of another person, because of my situation, or because of myself?

• Did I actually fail, or did I fall short of an unrealistically high standard?

• Where did I succeed as well as fail?

People who blame others for their failures never overcome them. To reach your potential, you must continually improve yourself, and you can't do that if you don't take responsibility for your actions and learn from your mistakes.

Be the first to take responsibility when things go wrong for your team.