During a cross-country rail trip to New York in early 1928, Walt Disney not only lost his cartoon star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but half of his animation staff to his film distributor. Before boarding the return train to California, Walt sent his brother, Roy, a telegram: “Don’t worry, everything OK.” On the train home, Walt contemplated a new character — a mouse, which he named Mortimer. His wife, Lillian, had a different idea, and Mickey Mouse was born. What can we learn from Walt’s ride home?

1. Your Attitude Toward Failure Will Determine Your Level of Success.

More important than how much loss you suffered as a result of a failure is what you will do next. You have two choices: You can be brutally honest with yourself, determine what part of the failure you are responsible for and embrace it, and start planning your comeback, or you can blame others, the weather, the economy or multiple things out of your control.

The stark reality is that others have faced similar challenges and have found ways to adjust, change, grow and create overwhelming success going forward. You can too! Failure is a stepping stone to a greater future and provides lessons that can only be learned when you have been knocked down. The correct attitude will assure you get back up and come back stronger than ever!

2. Not Getting the Clients You Want Can Be the Best Thing That Could Happen to You.

Not getting the results you expected is sometimes a stroke of good luck, because it forces you to reevaluate your skills and effort; it can open new opportunities and information you would have otherwise overlooked. Sometimes our efforts fall apart so that better things can fall together.

Failure enables us to see the importance of purging attitudes and techniques that aren’t working and need to be changed. And never forget that, no matter how many mistakes you make or how slow your progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying to improve and grow their skills.

I look forward to seeing you on my next post! Please feel free to contact me. Exchanging ideas with agents and F&I professionals is my passion!