3 REASONS WHY FAILURE IS FABULOUS!
Why are we so obsessed by avoiding failure?
In the Western world, there seems to be a focus on “winning”. Often the world is divided into “Winners” and “Losers”. In the USA second place is often referred to as “First Loser”.
I have dealt with athletes who may have finished out of the placings in an event, yet had achieved massive Personal Best performances. I have had to console them and often their parents and support people after what they have termed is a “Loss”. The truth of the matter is that the athlete has provided a performance in excess of their best previous effort. Isn’t that enough reason to celebrate?
The same can be said for other parts of our life including relationships. Every argument I have ever listened to a personal relationship (mine included) is essentially a discussion about who is right or wrong. Have you ever seen any value in the expression “Would you rather be right – or happy?”
I have come to a conclusion. FAILURE IS FABULOUS!
Now before you drag out the butterfly net and cart me away to a rubber room I will give you three reasons.
1: YOU DON’T LEARN AS MUCH FROM WINNING.
Great coaches know this. How often have we seen athletes or even teams of athletes reaching the pinnacle of success yet finding it difficult to recapture that excellence in seasons following?
The reason is that the opportunities to learn are greater. When you reach the pinnacle, it takes a very strong mind to celebrate and then analyse performance.
2: FAILURE MOTIVATES
Let’s face it, the human mind is better tuned in to finding things that you could do better when somebody else has performed better. It is much less successful at improving once success has been achieved.
The rider on that comment is that focusing on the negative of failure is the way to continued failure. It is a matter of taking the failure and looking for the positive lessons that can be gained.
3: WE ARE ALREADY SPECTACULAR AT FAILING
How many times a day do you fail? I started off by burning the toast this morning! (That reminds me-I need to change the smoke alarm batteries!) I have also had numerous other little failures during the day.
Errors, omissions, mistakes are all little failures.
The point is that we are already really good at failing. WHY NOT EMBRACE IT? I’m not suggesting that you go out of your way to make errors or create disasters in your life. What I believe is that attaching the negative connotation to “failure” is self-destructive. It simply creates a negative track in your mind. Simply look on any error as a learning opportunity – and BRING IT ON BABY!
If you want to comment on your experiences of failure and how it worked well for you, please feel free to comment below. Alternatively fill out a contact form and I will personally call you!
