What would you do to get what you want?  In this picture you can get a sense of what my five-year-old son, Jack, went through to find where the Halloween candy was hidden. (Hint: it's the open cupboard door at the top of the picture.)

I was blown away watching Jack's multiple attempts to get to his jackpot, the candy. What I loved witnessing was how quickly he would realize his strategy was not working. At one point he stacked pillows on top of the stool. As he started to step on the pillows, he immediately noticed that his foot was sinking. He instantly pushed the pillows aside and ran off on search of something else to put on top of the stool to reach higher. He continued his attempts, failing time and time again, unable to reach high enough to open the cupboard where the candy was hidden.

I realized watching him that many of us adults give up after the first attempt at something. Many of us don't even make the first attempt out of our fear of making a mistake or doing something wrong.

I love telling my coaching clients about the philosophy of a highly successful businessman. He says that the difference between success and failure is how many mistakes you make. Successful people actually make more mistakes then the people who have failed. Yes, you read that correctly!  

More mistakes equal more success. Seems like a paradox, doesn't it?

How could this be, you might wonder. Here is the astounding secret to this formula: learn from your mistakes. I believe it was Lee Iacocca who was famous for giving all the employees of Chrysler permission to make a mistake as long as they only made it once. 

So many times I see people standing around scared to make a mistake. They end up watching a constant stream of opportunities pass them by.

My son, Jack, would have never gotten to the candy if he didn't allow himself to make a few mistakes in pursuit of his goal — the Halloween candy.  

Where are you paralyzed in fear of making a mistake? Where do you hesitate to take risks because you are not absolutely positive you will be successful the first time you try?  

Is it around money, health, relationships, businesses ventures, inventions, songs, etc.?  

The faster you make mistakes the faster you will learn and the faster you will succeed.  

I was recently on a radio talk show at 92.9 FM The Mountain [1] in Tucson, Arizona. I spent two hours coaching callers around how to deal with their fears. A few specific strategies [2] seemed to really resonate with the callers. I will share some of these in my next blog post.

Doug Miller [3] is an executive and life coach.  Learn more about him and his coaching over at www.coachdoug.com [4]