Podcast
#175: How to Reframe Failure Into Stories of Success
#175: How to Reframe Failure Into Stories of Success
One of the most fearful words that has ever existed is “failure”. It hinders even the most ardent dreamer from pursuing their dreams. This fact made me thoughtful of an important question: if we remain fearful, will our dreams ever come true?
Before recording this week’s show, I was reminded of an old dream of mine to become a Spring DJ for KUGR radio 
in the 1980s. It was the craze back then before the internet came into existence. When I was asked to audition, I chose not to. To me, not trying at all was a better approach than trying and failing.
This fear made my dream of becoming a Spring DJ unrealized. It was only later on when I realized the lesson out of that experience. And we do things like this every single day.
Conflict and failure are in the heart of every story we tell. So if you’re avoiding it, you’re choosing not to take the journey that can change your life for the better forever.
My guest on this week’s show, Andrea Waltz, co-author of Go For No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There, shares how to reframe your story about failure so you can gain more confidence in pursuing your dreams.
Andrea is an expert at fun, fabulous failures. Yep, that’s right. Failing doesn’t always have to be scary. Andrea will teach us how to turn our stories of failure into stories of success. Starting with the mindset, she will change the way you think, feel and respond to failure. Then, you’ll be liberated from the fear of failure and rejection. Once that fear is gone, only then you can unleash your most extraordinary story.
My goal with this episode is to help listeners understand the important role of failure in the attainment of success. Today, find out why embracing failure and rejection is important in crafting and telling your story. Learn about the 5 levels of failure, how to deal with these levels, and how to combat the fears that are hindering you from telling your stories.
Now, who has a connection for a college radio station that needs a new DJ?
In this Episode, You’ll Learn
- The 5 levels of failure (and how to embrace and overcome them)
- Why humans love hearing failure stories
- How to fail with grace and come out a better person
- How failure of vision impacts the stories we share
- How perfectionism and it’s evil cousin, procrastination, are your greatest antagonists that fan your fear of failure
Key Quotes
“Failure is anything that’s getting you closer to your goal.” — Andrea Waltz
“We kind of learned to avoid failure because we cared so much about what people think.” — Andrea Waltz
“All of our lives, whenever we go to achieve anything of significance, the universe is going to punch us in the nose just to see how badly we really want it.” — Park Howell
“Failure and success are not opposite sides of the spectrum. They are sides of the same coin.” — Andrea Waltz
“The action and the activity is what matters. Not whether it’s perfect or successful.” — Andrea Waltz
“Failure is totally egocentric.” — Park Howell
“Our desire for perfection is the root of why we fear failure.” — Andrea Waltz
Mentioned In This Episode
- Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There
- How I Built This: Interview with Sarah Blakely
- Spanx
- McCormick
- The 3 Stages of Failure in Life and Work (And How to Fix Them)
- Atomic Habits
- Goforno.com
- Andrea Waltz LinkedIn
- Andrea Waltz Twitter
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