Continuing with the key principles from Make Your Bed, another principle important for entrepreneurs is failure can make you stronger.
Principle – Failure can make you stronger
In the book, the author talks about how during SEAL training he was coming in last for swim training. This failure required him to do extra exercises that were punishing. Yet, he slowly began to realize these additional punishments were actually working the muscles and skills he needed to be successful in the swim. He continued to progress in his times until at the last swim drill, he finished first in the group.
He also gives an example of how he struggled to lead a group of SEALs early in his career and was reassigned. The learnings from that failure ultimately helped him become a better leader and position him well for the rest of his career as he learned key lessons from that experience.
For entrepreneurs:
Most traditional school and corporate training teaches us that failure is bad. We are taught how to not make mistakes. For entrepreneurs, failing fast is critical to success.
First, as an entrepreneur you are constantly running lots of experiments to test and learn what works and resonates in the market. Many of those will “fail.” But without that constant testing in the real world, you will never know. Deciding things in a conference room will sound good in theory but miss the real world feedback.
Second, many of the best entrepreneurs I know had a first startup that “failed.” Yet, the learnings they took from that, the chip on their shoulder, and their desire to try again were all critical to their future success.
Lastly, there is a fear you have to overcome to put an idea out there, to launch a product that is not perfect, or to try and close a sale. You can’t be afraid of pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. The best learning and development happens when you are uncomfortable.