Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

20.4. Keeping Track of What Works and What Doesn't

Not every new venture is going to work out quite as well as you had envisioned it. This is normal. To make it through the failures without beating yourself up over them, think of it in terms of a baseball batting average. If you're batting .300 in baseball, you're doing pretty well. A .300 average means you're getting on base a little less than once every three times at bat. In business, if you're batting .300, you're outstanding! Many businesses would be happy to have a 10 percent success rate.

Instead of feeling bad about your failures, simply keep track of what works and what doesn't. Do more of what works and less of what doesn't, and eventually you'll see your batting average start to rise.