Don't be like this guy.
Failure (part 1)
Failure is a necessary ingredient for improvement and success. Why, then, does it have such negative connotations?
We are taught, either explicitly or indirectly, that failure is bad and should be avoided. Failure makes you a loser.
Part of this is that we idolize success. We see the headline about the star athlete or the groundbreaking discovery, but we do not hear about the years of training and failure, the dead-ends that were explored before finally finding something that works (unless you read the article, perhaps — but who does that?).
Consider me explored.
The success stories are easy to communicate and fun to consume, but they warp the consumer's mind. Through inundation, the listener begins to believe in a world that is all cream. Everybody seems better than them. They take no joy in their own failures — instead, failure merely begets more disappointment.
Take joy in your failures. They are the fuel of growth and success, just as mutations are the fuel of evolution.
Fill up on failure.
If failure makes you a loser, and failure also can make you a winner, then what role does failure play in this at all? That is for you to decide. Failure is raw material.
If you like the winner/loser dichotomy (as I don't) then try this:
If you use failure as an excuse to give up, you lose.
If you use failure as a reason to try again, you win.
It may not feel like winning...
Failure represents progress. Maybe progress in the wrong direction, but at least you know that now. Your horizons have expanded, and you have a better idea of where to expend your energies in the future.
Learning is fun.
Failure lets you learn.
↩ Prev