Failure means different things to people. Failure in and of itself is only feedback. It’s not a judgment of character or worth and value. It simply means what you tried didn’t work. Taking a risk to try something, failing, and trying again creates great courage and bravery. Embracing failure as part of the process makes it less ominous and defeating. You may have failed but you aren’t a failure.
Instead of looking at failure like something negative to be avoided, considering embracing it as part of the process towards success. Here are some clever ways to look at failure:
- Failure is feedback
- Failure is a teacher
- Failure is progress
- Failure is a pivot point
Failure is feedback – Failing provides data. The data can illustrate what works and what doesn’t. A failure simply provides information that you can use to try again, make a new plan, or abandon things all together. Feedback can be considered constructive or destructive based on your perspective and mindset. Consider making failure nothing more than neutral facts for analyzing.
Failure is a teacher – Similar to being feedback, failure offers teaching points that help influence your next moves. Failure has value if it teaches you what not to do moving forward. That has incredible value. Let the facts and the failure teach you important lessons that you can take with you into the future.
Failure is progress – Thomas Edison is known for creating the light bulb. Most people focus on the success he had developing the bulb, but he had over 1,000 failed attempts before succeeding. In his own words, he shared how those failures only made it possible for him to have success. Failure is progress because you learn as you go and learning what doesn’t work is as valuable as learning what does work.
Failure is a pivot point – Sometimes failure helps point out a better direction. In 1968 chemists at 3M tried to develop a super powerful adhesive but failed when their adhesive came out super weak. Instead of throwing in the towel, including the resources used in development, another chemist pivoted and developed the mildly sticky product used today – Post It Notes. Many times, a failure provides a way to pivot into something bigger and better than initially possible.
Failure is a part of the process. Failing and experiencing the fact that it won’t ruin you helps build courage and a brave mindset in the face of failure. Using failure to your benefit makes you stronger, not weaker, and more resilient.
