More Reasons Why Failure Can Be Healthier Than Success
Darren Roberts
Copyright 2001 © All Rights Reserved
Failure Provides Education
As kids, we generally go to school during the years 5 to 15. Most of us go onto complete High Schooling and many continue with tertiary education at college. Education provides knowledge. We are expanding our capabilities based on what we are learning. As we learn, we try out new ways based on our newfound knowledge.
It is this very trying out of new ways that acts as a measurement of our abilities. If we succeed then well and good - you know what works. It is how you view failure that can make the difference. If you fall short, your failure is merely a measurement of your abilities. Examine where you are lacking and go about strengthening this weakness.
There is always at least one valuable lesson in failure. It's a very big educator and provides instruction that no theory can replace. This is why many of today's wealthiest people experienced a handful of bankruptcies
before they got it right. If you don't try, you'll never pick up the mandatory experience that failure provides before you succeed.
Failure Tests Your Dedication/Commitment
By now, I would hope that your goal list is more than a piece of paper with a few pipe dreams written over it. Your goals need to be your focus. They are important. They are a part of what makes you tick. Goals create futures with meaning and purpose. Pipe dreams will leave you deflated and empty. Put your goal list in your wallet, next to your computer - anywhere that you will see the list! Ensure that your goals are for your eyes only as it's your future not someone else's.
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It is your drive, your dedication that will give you the strength to make your dreams reality. This is so important that after you have attempted something and come up short - what do you do. Do you perceive yourself as a failure and crawl back into your shell with no plan to re-emerge? The other option is to carry the first point a little further and use failure as a point of measurement.
You erred. So what? You know where you are now. Leverage the knowledge you have to try again. If you don't, failure will be long term and will prove that you weren't dedicated to achieving your all-important goals. Your
goals are very important and your commitment to them will be more than evident in how you view failure.
Failure Creates More Comprehensive Planning
Why does failure happen? Were we silly? Were we ignorant? Did we set our goal too high? Were we ill-prepared? Whatever the reason, we need to look at "why" in great detail. We can then make another attempt and increase our chances with our newfound knowledge.
Like many things, if we are in control, we stand a better chance of success. The best way to stay in control of any situation is to have written strategies to support your written goals.
In reality, your goal list is a general plan. It may comprise short-term and long-term or even life-time goals. On your way to realizing these goals, you will make some decisions that don't work. It is prudent, based on the lessons of failure, to plan comprehensively. This allows you to put your best foot forward with more certainty as you have calculated the odds deep into your advantage by having written the script.
Failure Once Understood Can Be Mastered
Baby Boomers were raised on the understanding that failure is bad and to be avoided at all costs. Sure, failure can hurt - especially when you believe you have done the work to make for a positive result.
In contrast, failure should almost be welcomed. Failure and Success are both results. To achieve either is to show that you are following your conviction with vigor. Action speaks louder than words. It is your action that will create opportunities. It is less dependent on the short-term results. You will fail to start with. You have to. You don't know enough to succeed overnight.
So many people go looking for the "one size fits all" secret or some mystical non-existent formula that will make all the difference. This is not the way to do it. You need to see failure for its true value. As has been discussed in this report, failure educates - you become more knowledgeable. This leads to more comprehensive planning. When this still may not be enough - it measures your resolve. It checks your commitment.
Failure can be equaled to an audit report on someone's business. It tells you where you are heading and reflects areas requiring attention. Imagine if a businessperson received their financial year end audit report and saw the results weren't quite as good as was forecast. Does this failure warrant giving up or is it simply advisory showing where attention is needed?
Giving up is when long-term failure is guaranteed. Leverage failure for it's true value. We have all had our share of failures. It's how we react to them that will make or break us. Stick to your goals and ensure failure serves you well.
Take authors for example. An unknown writer approaches an agency with a new book. Will the author be accepted by the first to read it? Most likely not. This doesn't mean they give up. Imagine if the author of Harry Potter had done this. No one would have been able to experience the true magic of her work had she given up.
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