Put That Failure In Your Back Pocket

…none of us like a failure.

And for a lot of us, we look at it like a waste of time, a waste of effort, and that we haven’t moved the needle in the right direction.

But maybe that’s not so true.

The famous copywriter Joe Sugarman used to tell himself that a failure (or a mistake) was something that went into his back pocket.

And once kept in his back pocket, he knew that there might be an opportunity when it might become useful.

Which reminded me of my dad’s old screw jar.

Every time he came across a screw that was lying around, he used to toss it in his jar, in case it ever came in useful.

And while not all got used, there was a time when the right screw saved the day….or stopped a piece of furniture from falling apart. 

And if Joe’s advice on failure doesn’t make you do a rethink, here’s what Edwin Land – the creator of the Polaroid – had to say about it…

“A mistake is a future benefit, the full value of which is yet to be realized.”

So maybe that mistake…or failure you’ve just had….might be a lot more useful than you thought it was.

You can also cut down on your publishing mistakes using this.