In a recent LinkedIn post, sales leader Sheriff Shahen offers a counterintuitive approach to achieving professional success by focusing on how to avoid failure. Rather than fixating on the end result, Shahen advocates for a disciplined process centered on controllable actions and consistent effort, even when faced with adversity.
Shahen’s core message challenges the common obsession with success metrics, suggesting that a more effective strategy lies in making failure an unlikely outcome. He states:
“You don’t need to know exactly how you’re going to succeed. You just need to make it really fucking difficult for yourself to fail.”
This perspective shifts the emphasis from aspirational goals to the daily grind and the execution of fundamental tasks. According to Shahen, the path to not failing involves a commitment to showing up, regardless of external circumstances or internal doubts.
The Power of Consistent Action
Shahen emphasizes the importance of persistence, particularly during challenging times. He highlights scenarios where motivation might wane, such as when a sales pipeline appears weak, rejections are frequent, or self-doubt creeps in. In these moments, the critical action is to proceed anyway.
As Shahen puts it:
“Show up. When you’re tired. When your pipeline looks like shit. When you’ve been rejected all week. When nobody is replying. When you start questioning whether you’re actually good at this. Show up anyway.”
This relentless commitment to the process, even when uncomfortable, is presented as the bedrock of resilience. Shahen suggests that embracing uncomfortable actions—making difficult calls, asking tough questions, following up persistently, and asking for business—is essential for growth and eventual success.
Embracing Discomfort and Learning
A significant part of Shahen’s strategy involves actively seeking out and engaging with discomfort. This includes the inevitability of rejection, which he frames not as a setback, but as a crucial part of the learning cycle. The advice is to learn from each rejection and immediately re-engage.
Shahen argues for a continuous cycle of action and learning:
“Make the call. Ask the difficult question. Send the follow-up. Ask for the business. Get rejected. Learn. Do it again tomorrow.”
By consistently performing these actions and embracing the associated discomfort and potential rejection, individuals create a robust framework that makes failure improbable. This approach, Shahen suggests, allows success to emerge organically rather than being a forced outcome.
Reverse-Engineering Failure
The post advocates for a mental reframing: instead of trying to reverse-engineer success, one should focus on reverse-engineering how *not* to fail. This means identifying potential pitfalls and proactively building habits and strategies to overcome them.
According to Shahen, the key is long-term consistency:
“Wake up early. Keep showing up. Keep learning. Keep getting uncomfortable. Keep getting rejected. Keep taking another swing. Do that for long enough and success tends to take care of itself.”
In essence, Sheriff Shahen’s insights on LinkedIn provide a practical, process-oriented roadmap for professionals. By prioritizing the consistent execution of controllable actions and learning from every experience, individuals can build a foundation that makes sustained success not just possible, but probable.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Sheriff Shahen on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on September 11, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →