The Importance of Learning How to Fail

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Failure is mainly something that people fear. We see failure as an end, as something to finish it all. That is why learning how to fail gives us an advantage. The definition of failure doesn’t give us a reason to believe that failure is bad.

Failure (noun)

The act of someone or something not succeeding

Although the definition tells us that we are not doing something good, it doesn’t justify our sense of thinking of it as the end of the world sometimes. Yes, failure can be something really hard to endure.

Especially after giving so much effort and emotion towards a goal. The ugly truth is that sometimes it is well needed.

If we hadn’t failed at the time we did in life, we could’ve failed even further when it does more damage.

For example, you fail to get a good grade on a test you have studied for.

This happens earlier during the year so you realize that you have to put more effort into that subject. You change the way you digest information in order to pass the final exam.

If you cheated your way through the whole year in that class, when you get to the final exam it will result in a much bigger failure affecting your result even more. 

Why Do We Normally Consider Failure as Something Bad?

We constantly tend to see failure as something that affects us deeply. Seeing the bad side of it isn’t going to make it easier to move on. But, why do we see it as something bad?

Our brains are made to make us feel. It attaches emotions with events.

Let’s be real. It’s not like if you fall when running you are going to be so excited like, “Omg, I just broke my leg, that’s fantastic, now I will learn how to properly run.”

That is definitely not how it works.

We cry, we get angry, frustrated, and sometimes even consider giving up. The thing is that it is perfectly fine to feel these emotions, you should.

It is healthy.

If you were to be happy all the time it would be considered toxic positivity. Which does way more harm to you than not knowing how to fail.

What happens when we fail is that we stay there, in the emotions and where we are angry at the world for not letting us succeed in something that we wanted so much.

It’s the people that go past those moments that know how to fail. Most people get engulfed in their emotions and this bubble they are not able to get out.

We feel guilty and sometimes we don’t want to move on, or we assume that that is the end, there is not anything else we can do to fix our problems. Thankfully there always is.

Maybe we don’t get to fix that exact problem, but we create a new beginning to obtain what we originally wanted. That’s how we learn from our daily lives.

The Importance of Failing

If we didn’t fail and we always succeded, we would miss new opportunities to learn, not only on how to do things correctly but also how to process our emotions.

Failing, apart from giving us a new experience, brings us another chance. It gives us the opportunity to know what we did wrong and start again.

Providing us the power to be aware, not only of the mistakes that lead us to fail but also of some other little factors that could’ve led to a larger problem.

Allowing us to be prepared for future failure, to know how to react the next time something goes wrong, and to not lose time trying to figure it out. That is why it’s important to learn how to fail.

This is extremely necessary when running a business that especially depends on the time that can’t be lost recovering.

Eventually, you will no longer be afraid to take new paths or new opportunities that could potentially bring you something fantastic just because you are afraid of failing.

Failing makes you stronger, it shows how you won’t give up and are always willing to keep trying. It separates you from the rest.

Encouraging ourselves to fail

Encouraging each other and ourselves to fail can give us the recognition we may need in order to not feel bad at it.

In order to do this, you could motivate yourself to not be afraid to take risks.

When we fail we should thank ourselves for failing early on. That way we can fix mistakes that could’ve had a substantial impact in our future if left unnoticed.

This is a Ted Talk about a parent who teaches his children to fail, from this I have learned a lot.

 In order to learn to change the mindset of seeing failure as the worst, we need to start from the root of the problem.

Ask yourself, what scares me the most about failing?

For some of us could be what people would think of us and for others, it may be more specific, such as their parents or the fact that they have to start again.

Acknowledging the potential worries that failure brings, helps us recognize what we need to work on in order to welcome new risks and opportunities.

 Know that you can’t live avoiding failure and that it will eventually happen. 

You shouldn’t live your life worrying at the potential risk of failure.

It is something that is going to happen sooner or later, because, we are human.

We can’t avoid future mistakes that easily. That is why we should let it flow when they are unavoidable.

Take it as an opportunity to learn. As an opportunity to grow your knowledge on the aspect of your life that went sideways.

Acknowledging that failing is something that will eventually occur encourages us to be more productive, creative, and active.

It helps us concentrate on the problems that we can solve and let those that are inevitable, happen.

In conclusion, FAILURE IS NOT BAD!

We have to admit it, it brings us a lot of benefits, but it is important to recognize our feelings when failing and let them have their moment.

Those that never learn how to fail, have it much harder in life. Even when they only have success it is harder for them to learn what could be wrong with a situation in the future. 

Let’s not be afraid to fail and let’s rise again even stronger.

I encourage you to write what led you to failure and analyze. This will help you realize where to improve.

Good luck with your future successes!… and failures.