Failure Cures Failure Just In Case You Did Not Know
If someone whom you respected walked up to you and said:
“Failure cures failure”
how would you react? It seems backwards, right? How can failure, not success, be what gets rid of failure?
I’m not sure where this idea came from or where I first heard it but it has been useful to me in my adult years as the profitability of taking chances increased both the probability that I would either fail or succeed or both at the same time. A bit confusing, I know, so let’s play a memory game:
“Remember When?!” [insert unwritten theme music and confetti].
Remember when you couldn’t drive a car but eventually took driver’s ed, got your permit, took the test, then all of a sudden you were a legal driver? Remember when you weren’t that great at reading anything at all, stumbling on all of those new words until their sounds and meanings became second nature? Or, remember when you were a toddler and couldn’t walk (I doubt anyone would remember this but stay with me) but as many times as you kept crawling and standing and falling you eventually held on to that table’s edge or your mother’s and father’s hands and, one step at a time, learned how to stand on your own and walk?
What if we applied that same logic to something like success? It’s not that easy, of course, but the mind frame is all that matters. I’m interested in the idea that having a dream is not enough, rather one must have a plan to reach that dream paired with the audacity to fail.
Try everything and fail at everything so that you can do everything better
It’s not that failure itself is the path toward success, it’s more so the experience that one gains from trying something new and, in failing, knowing what not to do anymore in order to keep that same failure from happening again. Experience is real and success doesn’t necessarily mark that something has been done in such a way that: A) it was done correctly, and B) it couldn’t be done better. With failure comes the ability to look over one’s mistakes and see how to enhance the quality of work and work ethic. It allows for innovation of thought and process. Fearing failure is understandable, but think of failure as part of the journey, as nothing to be ashamed of. I say if you fail at something, try it again and make sure you fail even harder this time. Build that experience, learn those lessons, and document what you did wrong so that you can avoid that same mistake again.
“But what if people see me fail?” – So what? Who hasn’t failed at something in their lives? Also, do the people who see you fail encourage you to get back up and try again or do they put their foot on your back while you’re down? Sometimes failure is useful in that way; it brings to light the people who have kept their unfriendly ways in the dark. What better decision to make than getting rid of those thorns?
Something else that crossed my mind: is success the only reason to do anything? I wonder if doing things for attention or praise is equally at fault as doing something with the fear of failure. We have to leave space for ourselves to enjoy what we do and engage with it on a level of “This will make the world better.” The stakes are high enough as it is so throwing ego in the mix , the need to prove how much better your are than someone else in order to feel validated, just makes the situation so much worse. This goes back to doing what you love. If you do what you love then you know that failing at it will only make you go at it harder because the real work is in doing the work to make it work and sometimes a little “I messed up” goes a long way.
Resources
Quotes about the importance of failure – Goodreads.com saves the day again with this inspiring collection of quotes.
Five Ways To Make Peace With Failure – From Forbes
Phillip
Glappitnova unites influencers and talent from different industries through storytelling, performances, classes, and events for one crazy 8 day experience in Chicago.The opinions expressed here by Glappitnova.com contributors are their own, not those of Glappitnova.com.
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