Print this page
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.

34399 comments

  • Comment Link kd 12 Sunday, 17 April 2022 09:48 posted by kd 12

    I wanted to construct a small comment in order to express gratitude to you for some of the amazing advice you are writing here. My incredibly long internet look up has at the end been compensated with high-quality facts to go over with my guests. I 'd repeat that we visitors are very much lucky to exist in a fabulous place with so many outstanding professionals with useful advice. I feel quite grateful to have used your entire webpage and look forward to so many more exciting moments reading here. Thanks a lot once more for a lot of things.

  • Comment Link golden goose Sunday, 17 April 2022 09:45 posted by golden goose

    Thank you so much for giving everyone an extremely memorable opportunity to check tips from this web site. It's always so nice and as well , stuffed with fun for me and my office colleagues to visit your blog at the least thrice in one week to read through the newest items you have. Of course, I am certainly pleased for the beautiful methods you give. Certain 2 tips in this post are unequivocally the finest we have all ever had.

  • Comment Link kyrie 6 shoes Sunday, 17 April 2022 08:22 posted by kyrie 6 shoes

    I wish to get across my admiration for your kind-heartedness giving support to men and women who absolutely need help on the niche. Your very own dedication to getting the message all-around ended up being rather productive and has constantly helped somebody like me to get to their dreams. The warm and friendly help and advice indicates much a person like me and even more to my office workers. Regards; from each one of us.

  • Comment Link Enrnwrarf Sunday, 17 April 2022 08:19 posted by Enrnwrarf

    purchase cialis australia cialis canadian pharmacy ezzz

  • Comment Link retro jordans Sunday, 17 April 2022 07:43 posted by retro jordans

    I needed to compose you that very little note to help give thanks over again for all the pretty tips you have contributed above. This is simply surprisingly generous with you to grant unhampered what a number of us might have supplied as an electronic book to help with making some cash for their own end, chiefly now that you could have tried it in case you considered necessary. The smart ideas likewise acted as a good way to realize that other people online have the identical desire much like my very own to see a little more with respect to this matter. I am certain there are a lot more pleasant occasions ahead for those who check out your site.

  • Comment Link lebron james shoes Sunday, 17 April 2022 06:59 posted by lebron james shoes

    My husband and i ended up being now fulfilled Louis managed to finish off his homework from the ideas he obtained out of your weblog. It's not at all simplistic to just happen to be releasing points that many some people might have been trying to sell. So we recognize we have got the blog owner to give thanks to for this. The entire explanations you've made, the straightforward website navigation, the relationships you can make it easier to foster - it's mostly wonderful, and it's leading our son and our family reckon that that article is brilliant, which is certainly very serious. Thanks for everything!

  • Comment Link kobe Sunday, 17 April 2022 01:13 posted by kobe

    I and my pals happened to be following the nice tactics found on your web page and then came up with an awful suspicion I had not expressed respect to the site owner for those secrets. The young boys were definitely consequently happy to learn them and have in effect honestly been taking pleasure in those things. Thank you for turning out to be considerably kind and for finding this kind of good things most people are really desperate to discover. Our own sincere regret for not expressing appreciation to sooner.

  • Comment Link golden goose outlet Sunday, 17 April 2022 00:01 posted by golden goose outlet

    I have to show my appreciation to you just for rescuing me from this circumstance. Right after researching through the the net and meeting opinions that were not helpful, I believed my life was over. Being alive without the presence of solutions to the difficulties you have resolved by way of the posting is a serious case, as well as ones which might have in a negative way damaged my career if I had not noticed your site. Your own knowledge and kindness in touching every item was valuable. I am not sure what I would've done if I hadn't come upon such a step like this. I can also now relish my future. Thanks so much for the specialized and result oriented guide. I will not be reluctant to refer the blog to any person who should have guidelines about this matter.

  • Comment Link jordan 13 Saturday, 16 April 2022 21:42 posted by jordan 13

    I am also commenting to make you be aware of of the fine experience my girl found visiting the blog. She picked up too many details, which include what it's like to have a very effective helping nature to make others without hassle fully understand a variety of multifaceted subject areas. You actually surpassed people's expectations. Many thanks for displaying these productive, safe, revealing as well as easy tips about the topic to Tanya.

  • Comment Link WevgLiert Saturday, 16 April 2022 21:02 posted by WevgLiert

    buying prescription drugs canada FML Forte