The Most Surprising ‘Critical Success Factor’ Of All

As you’re working toward your new resolutions this year, I wish you all the best- – and I hope you fail, brilliantly.

You read that right: I want you to fail- – and I expect to fail as well.

I’d better do some explaining, hadn’t I? !

You see, whenever January rolls around, we all hope that the coming year will be better than the one we’ve left in the dust, and whether we write down our resolutions or not, we instinctively know which changes we’d most like to see in our lives.

But here’s the problem: our horizons tend to become shorter & shorter with each year that passes. And is it any wonder? We are busy, we are working heavily, and our lives are ordinarily “pretty good.” We win a few , we lose a few. We start to get a sense of what our role in life should be, and we play that story out line for line, with no real improvisation on the way. We finish up doing “just fine”- – most of the time.

In many ways, that’s definitely a good thing: it’s great to be content, and I strongly believe in being grateful for the various blessings we have been given. But if you’re at all like me, there’s part of you deep inside that knows there’s something bigger, something more, a dream worth rallying for. Regardless of where you are , that part of you always finds a way to stand up again, steel itself for the fight, and go on, because it has something it’s still keen to say as loud as you’ll let it: I Am NOT DONE YET.

Forget the list of incremental improvements and the half-hearted hopes; brush away the nice little resolutions. What do you truly want? What’s your one big dream, the one which has waited you out even if you’ve put it on hold for years and years?

Which one is suitably big to fight for? Which dream, win or lose, is worth it? Because here is what I know from my years working with America’s top marketing firms: if your dream is big enough to fight for, you’re going to fail en route there.

Yes! You are going to fail! And you’ll likely fail numerous times, I might add. I definitely have: for all the good things that occurred during the past year, I can think of two areas where I flat-out failed. I’m not going to pretend it was a sunny stroll through Positivity Park, either- – it was frustrating. It was upsetting. It stung. Nonetheless, the clarity & discernment those experiences gave me have been absolutely invaluable. My failings have brought me nearer to success, not further from it.

So that’s the reason why I would like you to fail. “Failure is a byproduct of pushing the envelope”, and it means you’ve got the courage to chase your most important dream & the chance to learn how to make your vision a reality.

I couldn’t wish you anything more amazing than that in the coming year.

Marie Elwood is an Atlanta marketing consultant whose firm, Increased Results, is one of the best marketing consulting firms for new product development and positioning strategy.