This is part of a series of posts on what you can do to be more successful in your business this year. To get a free report full of success tips for your business, click here.

I’ve been thinking about failure, or more particularly, my fear of failure, lately. I think fear of failure is pretty common, even in successful folks. In fact, sometimes success can lead to a greater fear of failure. It is harder for the successful businessman, esteemed by his peers, to admit failure than for someone who is just starting out.

Here is what I have come to, and maybe it will be helpful to you.

Get good at failing, and you will at some point have success. Never be willing to fail, and you will never succeed.

Here is how that plays out. If you allow your fear of failure to hold you back from trying things, you will never have a chance at success. If, however, you are willing to fail at something publicly, you will have an equal chance at succeeding at it.

I, for one, fail all of the time. I don’t like it, and I’m not proud of it. But I think if I can get comfortable with the idea that it is okay to fail, I will be more successful. Failure, after all, is just a step on the path to success.

Failure is usually only damaging to your emotions. At the same time, it can be brain food. The things you can learn by trying, and failing, are many. The trick is to try again. If your failure keeps you from trying again, you won’t be able to apply any of the great things you learned.

Failing doesn’t make you a failure. Not getting up and trying again does. Be willing to fail publicly. Be honest about it, nurse your hurt feelings if you must, and learn from the experience. Then get out there and be willing to fail again. Eventually, you’ll have success. Even better, you will have the knowledge that success often takes failure, and you won’t guard that success so tightly that you will avoid future risk and embarrassment.

In a side note to this post, I recently met a guy named Jason Markow on Twitter. He put me on to a February event called #FailWeek. During the week, you can write a blog post about your biggest failure and then link it up to others big failure stories. It is an interesting concept, and I think it goes hand in hand with being willing to fail publicly. If we can embrace our failure, laugh about it and learn from it, we are that much closer to being successful people. If you want habitual success, you need to get your mind and emotions into shape for it. Embracing failure is part of this. If you want to learn more about #FailWeek, go to Jason’s blog and read about it.

photo credit: .Larry Page

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I’m @BradfordShimp on Twitter and I help small businesses get found online over at BroadRiverCreative.com. My favorite food is chocolate chip pancakes.