Failure

I don’t normally use negative words (much more use them as titles to my articles), but I thought a “negative” word will catch your attention today.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” - Thomas A. Edison

What an encouraging quote from one of the best minds, if not the best mind, in human history. Though nobody wants to fail, we can’t deny the fact that failure is part of life. However, we can turn our failure/s into success.  It is just a matter of perspective and conditioning our mind to learn from failure and therefore turn it into success. Great inventors like Thomas Edison encountered failures prior to a successful invention.

To turn failure into success, requires a change of heart and mind; a change of character.

1. Be optimistic. Find the good in every bad experience. Thomas Edison did not say that he failed 10,000 times in his experiments. Rather he said that he found 10,000 ways that won’t work. Such attitude gave him the enthusiasm and optimism that he will soon find that one thing that will work.   Note that optimism is not limited to a few people as a personality trait; optimism is a choice. Optimism may not guarantee immediate positive results but optimism leads to greater motivation and stronger character.

2. Be responsible. It is human nature to put the blame on other people when we fail.  It is easier to point a finger to people or to circumstances rather than admitting our fault. But if we don’t accept the responsibility of our failure, we will not benefit from the learning opportunity it brings. Since you think it is not your fault, you will tend to forget about.  But if you accept your part as someone to be blamed for the failure, you will think about the failure seriously and you will learn from it. Accepting the responsibility of the failure is the mark of a mature person, one who be trusted to learn from the failure and keep trying.

3. Be resilient. Failure is unavoidable. When you encounter failure, learn from it, and then move on. Don’t wallow on your failure; don’t let it stop you from attempting great things. Get up and start all over again. To test if you have really moved on, check your behavior. Are you comparing yourself to other people? Are you justifying that your circumstances were harder than theirs? Are you rationalizing? Are you convincing yourself and others that you have good reasons for not getting over past failures? Are you isolating yourself? Are you avoiding the people and the issues and continue to feel sorry for yourself? Are you still trying to fix things or looking for solutions to issues that can no longer be changed?

4. Be action oriented and face your fear. After a failure, try again even if you feel some measure of fear. Face your fear and your worries. Believing that failure is inevitable and that it can be an instrument to success is not enough to achieve success.  You need to take action on that belief and take a step forward again in pursuit of our dream. Doing so will enable you to learn from your failure and make progress.  

I hope you agree with me that failure is not a “negative” word after all because after failure comes success if you know how to use said failure to your advantage.