Sunday, 05 November 2017 04:57

Handling Failure. Featured

Written by
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Why are you avoiding failing, and why does it look like it is the end of the world when you fail at something dear? To define failure in any context, you must first ask: what are you falling short of? What standards are you lacking? By which metrics are you failing? You can’t truly know what it means to fail if you don’t know what it means to succeed.

I have failed so many times in my life. I still fail sometimes, but I am not a failure. I know that school sabotage our relationship with failure. It installs in us some negative ways to deal with and handle failure. The results of your test and exams, states if you passed or failed. If you fail, there are consequences—your teachers and parents might be disappointed with you, you probably won’t get into the next class or the next level of your program. You might repeat or be kicked off. The price of failing is a very high price. You just can’t afford to fail.

Having this in mind, we have a terrible relationship with failure. Our educational system literally teaches us to associate failing with people being angry with us, opportunity slipping away, and having to spend our entire summers at school while our friends are all having fun outside. The message we learn from this is not positive. It instils the fear of failing in us. The moment you have the fear of failing, you will attract more failing. It is a never ending vicious cycle. If you fail, you’ll be punished. Supposedly, if you manage to not fail, you’re OK until you fail. The problem is that this belief is horribly misguided, and it sets us up for a lifetime of failure outside of the classroom.

To get better you need to change your own definition of failure. This will enable you to change your perspective. This will enable you to see the positive in failing and attract positive results despite failing. You have no option, but to accept failing is good for you. Failure is a necessary precursor to ultimate success. Want to make it big in the real world? Fail early, fail fast, fail often, as the saying goes.

When you fail, it is the process that failed, and not you. Creating a purposeful life requires messing up and venturing into the unknown. While we all want success, this is not guaranteed. That’s why the ability to recover from setback and move forward is essential. And this starts with embracing, processing, and even benefiting from failure. Failure is the best teacher. Until you experience failure, you won’t learn the secrets embedded that will enable you to succeed. Scientists have long understood that the brain has two ways of learning. One is avoidance learning, which is a punishing, negative experience that trains the brain to avoid repeating mistakes. The other is reward-based learning, a positive, reinforcing experience in which the brain feels rewarded for reaching the right answer.

In the educational system, failure means lost opportunity. But in the real world, failure is the currency for success. There is no success without failure. No matter how brilliant you think you are, you can’t tiptoe past failure on the way to success, failure is the front door. You’re not better or smarter than failure, you’re not above it and you can’t escape it. You’re going to fail many times, probably more than you succeed. If that idea made you queasy, well, get used to it. Failure doesn’t mean you are not good enough. Failure is just a data for you to work with. It is basic information that gives insight. It is a feedback.

The currency you earn from failing is the data and information the failure presents to you. How you use this data and information will determine how successful you will become. The more times you fail, the more data you earn, and the richer and more knowledgeable you become. Failure should not be taken for granted. It should not be taken on a face value. It is valuable to fail. As a matter of fact, failure is as precious as gold. If you want to achieve anything worthwhile, you must let go of the idea that failure is something to avoid. Nobody wants to fail, but you must be willing to fail if you ever want the chance to succeed.

Life is not like a restaurant where you can choose your meal. You don’t have the choice and leisure to choose between failure and success.  It doesn’t matter how much you achieve, or how good you think you are, you’ll never be immune to failure. Expect it often. Anticipate it. Remember that even though you can have failure without success, you can’t have success without failure. Failure is inevitable.

There is always room for improvement no matter how great you are. Sometimes, you’ll never know which areas need improvement unless you fail. You learn more from failure than from success. Failure makes you stronger, not weaker. Failure shouldn’t break or stop you, because you’re unstoppable. If you break or stop, it is not because of failing, it is because you decided to give up. You made the decision to give up. You take more chances in life when you are not afraid to fail. When you fail, oftentimes you’ll realise the present path you’re on is not the right one. You invest more time, and you discover a better path that leads to your goals and objectives. Failing shows you the right path.

Whenever you fail you have a choice. It is either you focus on the facts or you focus on the emotions. If you emphasise your feelings after an instance of failure, you’ll succumb to the victim mindset. Don’t make yourself a victim. If you are a victim of failure, your focus becomes your misfortune. Victims are passive and helpless. Failure feels worse than it is if you feel like a victim.

When you fail, don’t make it personal. Just because you haven’t found a successful way of doing something doesn’t mean you are a failure.  Look at the failure analytically. Don’t be in a hurry to shove it. There are lessons to be learned. Dissect it, learn all you can. Why did you fail? What might have produced a better outcome? Was the failure completely beyond your control? After gathering the facts, step back and ask yourself, what did I learn from this?  Think about how you will apply this newly found insight going forward.

Obsessing over your failure will not change the outcome, so stop dwelling on it. Often our fear of failure is rooted in our fear of being judged and losing others’ respect and esteem. You don't need anyone’s approval. The key to success is handling failure. If you risk failure, sometimes you will fail. But every time you fail, you’re that much closer to success. Success demands its percentage of failure.

Be aware that whenever you are doing something new, learning something new, taking risks or stepping outside your comfort zone, you are risking failure. All is not lost when you fail.

34182 comments

  • Comment Link JolwUtereemib Saturday, 21 May 2022 01:18 posted by JolwUtereemib

    average cost sildenafil 20mg how much is the cost of viagra https://aviagrasbt.com/

  • Comment Link yeezy supply Saturday, 21 May 2022 01:12 posted by yeezy supply

    I in addition to my guys were found to be reading the nice information found on your website and before long developed a horrible feeling I never thanked the blog owner for those secrets. These guys came consequently excited to read them and now have definitely been tapping into those things. Many thanks for being very thoughtful and for pick out these kinds of extraordinary guides millions of individuals are really eager to learn about. My honest apologies for not expressing gratitude to earlier.

  • Comment Link dqfooozv Friday, 20 May 2022 21:31 posted by dqfooozv

    purchase provigil oral provigil 100mg

  • Comment Link chrome hearts outlet Friday, 20 May 2022 21:24 posted by chrome hearts outlet

    I wish to express my thanks to this writer just for rescuing me from such a situation. Right after researching throughout the online world and coming across tips which are not beneficial, I figured my life was done. Living devoid of the answers to the issues you have sorted out all through your good article is a serious case, and the ones that would have negatively affected my entire career if I hadn't noticed the website. The ability and kindness in taking care of all areas was useful. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't encountered such a point like this. I can at this moment relish my future. Thanks for your time very much for your skilled and sensible help. I will not hesitate to propose the blog to any individual who desires guidelines about this topic.

  • Comment Link supreme hoodie Friday, 20 May 2022 21:04 posted by supreme hoodie

    I and my guys were analyzing the good things on the website while the sudden developed an awful suspicion I had not thanked the blog owner for those tips. The young boys are already for that reason very interested to learn them and have in effect definitely been loving them. I appreciate you for genuinely considerably considerate and also for having this sort of remarkable ideas millions of individuals are really wanting to be aware of. Our honest apologies for not saying thanks to you sooner.

  • Comment Link nike lebron shoes Friday, 20 May 2022 21:01 posted by nike lebron shoes

    Needed to compose you one bit of observation to finally give thanks the moment again about the incredible concepts you have featured on this site. This has been particularly generous with people like you to allow extensively all that numerous people might have advertised for an electronic book in order to make some profit for themselves, especially considering that you might well have tried it if you desired. These good tips likewise acted to be a good way to recognize that other people online have a similar fervor much like mine to grasp very much more with regard to this issue. Certainly there are a lot more fun opportunities ahead for many who examine your website.

  • Comment Link yeezy shoes Friday, 20 May 2022 20:12 posted by yeezy shoes

    I precisely desired to say thanks all over again. I am not sure the things that I would have done in the absence of those ways shown by you about such a topic. It was a very difficult matter in my position, but considering a well-written fashion you solved that forced me to leap for contentment. I am thankful for this service and in addition hope you really know what a great job you happen to be accomplishing educating the mediocre ones by way of a web site. I am certain you've never come across all of us.

  • Comment Link jordans Friday, 20 May 2022 19:51 posted by jordans

    I am also writing to make you understand what a incredible encounter my girl encountered visiting yuor web blog. She mastered plenty of pieces, which include what it is like to have a marvelous coaching character to make many more without hassle understand various complicated subject matter. You truly exceeded my expected results. I appreciate you for providing these interesting, trusted, educational not to mention unique tips about this topic to Emily.

  • Comment Link lggikwvm Friday, 20 May 2022 19:32 posted by lggikwvm

    cost provigil

  • Comment Link kyrie 6 Friday, 20 May 2022 19:27 posted by kyrie 6

    I simply wanted to thank you very much yet again. I'm not certain what I would have carried out without the actual opinions contributed by you relating to such topic. Entirely was an absolute horrifying problem in my circumstances, however , being able to see this well-written technique you dealt with that forced me to jump with gladness. I am grateful for the information and then hope you realize what a great job you have been carrying out educating the others by way of your web site. I am certain you've never encountered all of us.

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter all the required information, indicated by an asterisk (*). HTML code is not allowed.