THE BENEFITS OF FAILURE
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Have you ever felt stuck? Have you been in a situation when you messed up? I’m not talking about forgetting to take out the trash, although that would be a "stinky" mistake. But have you ever made a costly mistake?
From my personal to professional life, I will be the first to say I have made numerous mistakes. We have to call mistakes what they really are. Mistakes are failures.
It’s not unusual for people to fail. We all will fail at something at sometime. Failing doesn’t make us bad people. On the contrary, failure is actually a good thing.
I mentioned before how I have failed many times, but I also have been successful at many things in both my personal and professional life. The key is avoiding failing at the same thing.
No one wants to fail. Matter of fact, failure can be a harsh experience. It leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and commonly leaves a person saying and / or thinking, “I should have, I would have, or I could have.”
We have all been in this place before, but I want you to know you should not stay in this place too long.
Failure is necessary. Anyone who has had any form of success understands the benefits of failure. Here are the benefits of failure.
1. Failure is a reality check. When I took my practice exam to become board certified as a physical therapist, I didn’t do so well on my first practice pre-test before any studying. However, after consistent intentional studying in my areas of weakness, my score rose with every practice test. The first time I took my official board’s exam, I passed it with flying colors. It was the little failures during my practice test that helped me focus my studying. This focus studying helped me with successful completion and passing my first board’s exam.
When was the last time you had a reality check. It is easy to criticize someone else’s failure. But when we are actively involved with attempting to progress our own lives, we will not have time to criticize others and will have our own failures. These failures will be a great gauge of what we have or lack in order to be successful.
2. Failure is a great teacher. Everyone wants to experience success. We can learn from the success of our accomplishments, but our greatest learning moments will come from our failures. There is no reason to seek out failure because failure is inevitable when you are taking calculated risk to achieve your goals and dreams.
One of the reasons some big organizations have gone out of business or cease to be an accomplished organization is because they chose not to learn from any resistance or failures made by their own organization.
3. Failure allows for second chances. We don’t live in a perfect world. It isn’t something we like talking about, but we all have failed at some point. So when we fail, people are willing to give us a second chance.
Many of the greatest inventions in our world proceeded with countless failures. So not only did they have second chances, some of our greatest inventions had thousands of chances before any success was noticeable.
Just know, failure isn’t the end of your goals and dreams. It just means success did not happen that time and something needs to be done differently going forward.
4. Failure builds character. I don’t failure for your life, but know there is a developmental process that comes along with failing. Just as failure is a great teacher, it also develops everything about you. You will never be the same after failing if you learn your lesson.
Many times the lessons we learn don’t just apply to the one project, but we are able to carry the lessons to future projects and life plans. When you break down the reason for your failures, you will discover to avoid many other ways to fail in the future.
The passing of my boards wasn’t the first failure of mine. I learned from failure in my past when I tried out for my middle school basketball team. I didn’t make the team, but it made me practice and work harder to improve my skills. Consequently, I made my high school team all four years. Each of these failures has taught me to be calm, patient, and quietly work on bettering myself. With the failures in my life, I have always taken ownership. Failure continues to shape my mentality and temperament. I know there is no need to “cut corners,” but anything worth working for takes time, discipline, and intentional action. All these qualities will build integrity and a favorable reputation.
5. Failure will give you push. If you have ever failed, you can probably vividly remember the feelings and the taste it left in your mouth. Whether the failure was big or small, there was more than likely an overwhelming sense of embarrassment, noxiousness, worthlessness, or shame. These are very symptoms that will give us the push we need.
With the failures in my life, I have worked even harder at being my skillful because I hate the feeling of failure. This doesn’t mean I will never fail again, but I know I will continue to get better because of the push.
Are you using failure to push you? Or are you quitting? No one is exempt when it comes to failure. It’s part of life. So don’t quit, use failure to your advantage. Accept the push.
If you are anything like me, I hate failure. But there are many benefits when we do experience failure. Don’t miss an opportunity to better your life from the benefits of failure. Just as failure, when you take advantage of the benefits of failure, success will be inevitable.
Peace and Prosperity,
Bryant Hall
MTN Universal, LLC
