I know it appears negative to be talking about failure but let’s look at it from the perspective of how we can overcome failure.
I’m going to deal with four types of failure, even though there are others:
1) Failure by omission. This is fear of doing something because we are afraid. Hence by not acting we are failing to do what is right. There is a lot of stigma attached to failure that stops many people from taking chances and being outside their comfort zone. These are the people condemned to being mediocre.
2) Failure by refusal. There are those people who never take responsibility and always blame someone or something else for their inadequacies. They are the victims who never had a chance. Did they have a plan, or a plan B? It doesn’t matter, since they will always find ways to point the finger and hence never learn. There is a sub-group who try to dress up a failure as a success. Particularly prominent are politicians who use spin doctors to try to convince us that they are doing better than their predecessors etc. They are people who lie to themselves, and in some cases to others.
3) Failure by success. This sounds rather twisted… what I mean is setting goals that are too low, hence people may think they have succeeded but they have not stretched themselves. They have not achieved their full potential and are wasting their talents and skills by under achieving. They may think they are successful, but since they don’t set Big Hairy Audacious Goals they never really succeed…
4) Failure by action. People who give it their very best shot, it doesn’t work so they try a different approach. They learn from their mistakes and figure out ways to avoid making them again. It could be they had a poor perception of the situation. They gain experience and pick themselves up again however many times needed.
When you are trying to achieve a goal it can be quicker to learn from other peoples mistakes. Like this you don’t repeat them.
However circumstances are never quite the same and you are not ‘other people’. You think and feel in a unique way… Besides you need to feel the pain of doing something wrong to really learn the lesson. It is like a child who has to get burnt before really learning not to touch something hot!
So only the 4th type is healthy, since it makes the person progress and get better.
And remember you will never be a failure until you give up!
