And now, a word about grit.

In last week's blog I wrote about the importance that self-confidence plays in success, and offered up the advice to "fake it" if necessary, since perception is reality.

But equally important is the ability to recover from failure and try again.  Sadly, one of the side effects of helicopter parenting and grade inflation is that people don't learn how to fail.  If they did, they would realize that it isn't the end of the world.

We are hard wired to dislike failing more than we like winning.  This makes us naturally risk adverse.  But, if you don't keep trying you won't ever succeed.  Research shows that it takes eight touches to make a sale, yet most people stop at two.  Here's a nifty graphic from Microsoft...

But it's also important to learn from your failures, since as Einstein pointed out (unless it's misattributed)," the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results."

That's probably why after he was rejected twice from USC, Steven Spielberg didn't give up on going to college, but instead decided to go to Cal State.  Pivoting seems to have worked out ok for him. ;-)

Beasley, L. (2013, October 10)  Why It Takes 7 - 13+ Touches to Deliver a Qualified Sales Lead.  onlinemarketinginstitute.org   Retrieved June 25, 2019, from

https://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/blog/2013/10/why-it-takes-7-to-13-touches-to-deliver-a-qualified-sales-lead-part1/