Failure gets a bad rap. It’s the opposite of success, right? You either win or lose. It’s black or white.
Not around here. We celebrate failure. This is why:
Failure means that you tried something new
If you are always doing things that you are great at, chances are you are not trying new things. You don’t jump on a bike and ride around the block right away. You fall down a few times (maybe more than a few times). Doing new things can be both scary and exciting. Try them anyway. You may find something that you hate or something that becomes a lifelong passion. Either way, try new things.
Failure teaches you what you are doing wrong
Mistakes provide you with information that leads you along a path to solve problems. If you are trying to write code, you try something, look a the website and see if what you did worked or if it didn’t. Each time you try something that doesn’t work, you have eliminated an option. You are getting closer to success. There is a great quote from Thomas Edison where he says, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Finding what doesn’t work gets you one step closer to what does.
Failure breeds success
People who fail are among the most successful. Why? Because failure makes you better. Successful people tend to have far more failures than successes, but we pay attention to the things they succeed at.
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan.
Take the shot. The thrill of succeeding far outshines the pain of the failures.
Failure is a reality check
It feels awful to fail at something. It’s frustrating and possibly even embarrassing. But it keeps us human and is a reminder that we are not better than anyone else. Everyone fails. Everyone. Failing teaches us that we are imperfect. All of us.
Failure gives you focus
There are an unlimited number of things that you can do in life. Imagine if you were exceptional at every single one of them. How would you choose? Failure helps us to eliminate the things that we are weaker at so that we can gift the world with our true talents. Find the things that you excel at and grow those abilities.
Failure breeds community
Since we are not great at everything, we are reliant upon the gifts of others to help us get through life. My lack of sewing skills provides the income for someone who is gifted in sewing. My weaknesses are someone else’s strengths. Together, we can be great at everything. Find people that you can gift your talents to and allow them to fill in for your weaknesses.
Yes. In our home we celebrate failure. We get excited when you fall off your bike or decide that you don’t like soccer. Every time you fail, you are learning something about yourself and self discovery is definitely worth celebrating!