Failure has earned a bad reputation for itself. And no matter how safely we try to tread in our career, odds are, you will fail. So how to save yourself from it?
How about trying to embrace it whenever it sneaks up on you. Sit with it over a cup of coffee and learn a lesson or two it has to offer. Read the following lessons and see how failures can prove to be elements of improvement and a positive change.
To know yourself better
Dr Sam Collins once named one of the Top 200 Women to Impact Business & Industry by Her Majesty, the Queen of England is executive coach and speaker by profession. There was a point in her life when she had no money, no family connection, no recognition and was fired from her dream job.
She says you should lose at least one job in your life, so you become aware as to what is it you want to do with your career. That's what happened to her. The time when she was lowest and vulnerable, she realized she wanted to be a business owner. That paved the way to her successful career.
To gain more knowledge and experience
It prevents you from being comfortable in life and pushes you around to learn more, work more and eventually grow more. As the great Edison's saying goes-
"I didn't fail. I just found 2,000 ways not to make a lightbulb; I only needed to find one way to make it work."
To gain a different perspective
In a piece of recent news, a week back Waymo introduced fully self-driving taxi in Arizona. When the project has started, it was under X Development LLC., (formerly Google X). Astro Teller, director and one of the founders of this research facility tells that without numerous failures, the innovation wouldn't be on-road right now. When they started, the plan was to make cars which according to the pleasure of the driver can do 'almost all the driving'. But in trial runs, it became clear it was a failure because the driver will become wholly dependent and pay less attention. Hence, they have to cross out the prototype and come up with a fully self-driving car which won't have drivers but passengers.
Hence came the fully automated taxi service. It's not just this one thing, but their entire factory of long shot concepts works on the idea of celebrating failures. And every day they try to think of different ways to fail.
To meet most amazing people
The real estate mogul and one of the sharks in the famous entrepreneurial reality show Barbara Corcoran says-
"Failure is what I'm best at."
She made her life from failures and credited it for the best thing that happened to her. Once a waitress and a receptionist, started her first company with her boyfriend. After seven years, the relationship, as well as partnership, fell through, so she ventured on her own. Once when giving a speech to 300 bankers, and failing miserably, she decided to teach real estate in NYU because that was all she could do then. And it was here that she would meet Carrie Chiang, who would become the best salesperson in entire New York and Barbara's star employee and helped her grow her career.
For Adaptation
Live on the edge of your capabilities, live where you are certain you will fail. This is what American actor, producer and rapper Will Smith suggests. He says failure not only should be tolerated but should be encouraged. The process of failing is our actual preparation. When we fail, we prepare ourselves better; we practice harder; we recalibrate our thoughts and beliefs for a more challenging situation. We adapt.
Similarly, like the building of our muscle which is not possible without breaking them. When we start doing weights, the muscles have to adapt to be able to lift a heavier load, and so they break, repair and become stronger. The seemingly brute cycle of damage and repair is what makes our muscles grow. So, his lesson is-
"Fail Early, Fail Often, Fail Forward"
It can take care of your procrastination
As said above, a negative attitude towards failure make people afraid of even starting the work. Study shows people who are more afraid of failure are more likely to procrastinate.
Make sure you appreciate others more
When you fail, you start realizing the actual efforts required to make something good happen. This insight makes you more empathetic towards other's struggle and problems. It becomes a good lesson on gratitude and compassion.
Failures strengthen you mentally
It makes you resilient and mentally stronger. Once, you fail at something and can survive that it makes you stronger to try anything new. Since you know you can survive anything. The bigger the failure you sustain, the stronger you get. It helps you get over all kinds of fears.
Failures can be motivating
If you have failed at something badly and have suffered through judgement or humiliation of any kind, it might drive you to get out of that situation and make a better life. It will encourage you to work harder, so you never have to go through that low point ever again.
As I mentioned earlier about Barbara Corcoran, when her boyfriend left her for her secretary, and they split, he told her she would never succeed without him. She says those words stung her deep, and she told herself, there is no way he will watch me not succeed.
Failures can lead to opportunities and exploration
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and MD of Biocon wanted to become a doctor when she graduated with a Zoology degree. But she failed the exam and wasn't able to obtain the scholarship. After that, on her father's suggestion, she trained to become a brewmaster. That was the beginning of her great long career at Biocon. Today she is a Billionaire Entrepreneur and ranked 65th in most powerful women in the world list by Forbes.
Failing in an exam, opened the door to a much bigger journey.
Failures free you from the burden
As they say, when you have hit rock bottom, there is nowhere to go but up. When you encounter a huge setback or lose a career or relationship or whatever it is you value, you are stripped of all your comfort and much of your mental baggage. In a sense, you return to a more stable place, and so now all you have to focus on is getting back up there. You become more willing to take risks as you have less to lose.
Jim Carrey had to overcome a lot since his early years of youth. He had a learning disability, and his family was financially struggling, and he was juggling part-time jobs to get through. When they moved to Canada, he had no alternative but to move forward with a lot of efforts. His biographer says-
"His greatest bursts of creativity were born out of desperation; so was his remarkable willingness to take risks."
Conclusion
So, when you go hit a wall and can't find another way towards a better life. don't lose your heart. Try to search for all the positivity and encouragement around you. Don't let present circumstances keep you from building a better future. When you are at your lowest, you are mostly in the mine of invaluable lessons of your life. Don't let it go to waste.
Co-author: Shreya Arya
A digital marketing enthusiast with experience in HR and hospital management, Shreya has wide interests ranging from philosophy, psychology to latest trends in automation. She is also a freelance content writer and loves lending beautiful words to ideas and feelings.
