I am Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits.
When building a profitable practice, you must get used to embracing failure. Great leaders are comfortable with embracing failure. You should be too. If you hate failing, that’s a good thing. It means you’re driven. People that aren’t fazed by failure or loss, don’t expect much of themselves. You’re different. You’re like most folks because failure is frustrating to you. I know, for me, failure is my ultimate nightmare. It keeps me up at night. You can begin to question yourself when you get something wrong. You wonder if you’re capable of achieving what’s important to you. Even small failures can lead to an “I quit” attitude. Have several small setbacks in a row and you might want to give up on trying at all. I’ve been in this place in my life and in my practice, more than once. That’s not what great leaders do. They have no problem embracing failure.
That’s the case for a man who experienced defeat in a run for the state legislature. He had multiple failures in
business. Shortly after one such failure, the love of his life died. This led to a nervous breakdown the following year. He returned only to meet another defeat in his run for speaker of the House two years later. Then, defeat greeted him once again for nomination to Congress. This man was eventually elected to Congress, only to lose re-nomination. Two years later. He was rejected as a land officer and then defeated in his attempt to become a U.S. Senator. A couple of years later, defeat will once again come calling as he lost the nomination of Vice President for his party in 1858.
You could easily forgive such a man if he gave up. That’s a staggering list of failures. It would be easy to believe the world was just against you if there had been your experiences. The man’s lack of success was so legendary, it was given its own name, “Lincoln’s failures.” We’re talking, of course, about the 16th President of the United States of America. Abraham Lincoln recovered from those staggering failures, only to be faced with the Civil War and a political struggle that saw many in his own party turn their backs on him. Yet he continued to do what he had done so many times in the past –he refused to give up. He would eventually go on to help in slavery in America. This allowed African Americans to finally enjoy the civil and social freedoms that have been denied. Many historians that talk about such things count Abraham Lincoln as one of the highest achieving presidents in the U.S.
Failure can defeat you or it can teach you. Prodigious inventor Thomas Edison failed more than one thousand times before he successfully invented the incandescent light bulb. He’s famous for saying he didn’t regard lack of success as a failure; he simply learned one thousand different ways that wouldn’t work. Abraham Lincoln, no doubt, had the same approach as perseverance and reaching the highest leadership role in the United States was partly responsible for his eventual attainment of that title. He also learned from his failures and embraced them as teachers instead of despising them for creating so much hardship in his life.
Successful leaders don’t give up. They persevere in the face of failure. They also learn from their failures and embrace them as teachers instead of declarations of who they are. A failure is just an event, nothing more. It’s up to you whether you learn from it and move forward with better information or bow down to your failure and give up.
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A leader is a great person to look up to, but may not be easily accessible for mentorship. Check out our blog post here for tips on choosing the right mentor for you.
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I’m Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits. Please go to businessofrehab.com/contractnegotiations to pick up the free guide to help you negotiate the contract of your dreams.
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