• Treavor Dodsworth

#8 - Failing Forward


I wanted to highlight a concept I learned reading John Maxwell’s book Failing Forward. Failure is generally seen as something to be avoided. Maxwell makes the case in his book that if you are not failing you are not pushing yourself enough. In the book, he lists as the eleventh step to Failing Forward as - “If at first you do succeed, try something harder.”

A practical application of this concept is my own writing. I know several advisors that blog regularly, send out newsletters, or send out weekly emails. I have held back from writing regularly partially due to a fear of failure. What if I am not consistent? What if my writing is plain awful? What if I misspeak? I decided to put into practice Maxwell’s fourth step to failing forward - “Take action and reduce your fear.”

Don’t fear failure. See it for what it is- an opportunity to learn and push yourself forward.


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