Blog Post #3: My Two Cents on…Failure

When did failure become such a negative connotation? Most of us don't like failure. It doesn't feel good, and it can make us feel vulnerable. But failure is not a bad thing; it's a necessary thing. The sooner we come to that realization, the sooner we realize that failure is just another word.

 Failure is just another word for growth, and we all know growth is necessary for continued life. Failure is also another word for knowledge. We can gain knowledge of what not to do in our failures. Failure is just another word for experience. In failure, we gain experience; we learn what we may have done wrong and attain maturity. Failure is also another word for progress. It is in our failures that we progress or move closer to success. And finally, failure is another word for confidence. We can gain the confidence to try again in our failures. When you think about it, failure is success, or at least failure is the road to success. In failure, we grow and gain knowledge and experience, which are crucial to success. 

 Imagine an infant trying to walk for the first time. This attempt is met with failure; there will be many failures, but growth, knowledge, and experience come with each failure. And with each attempt to walk, each failure brings that child closer to the success of walking. Each failure brings progress in the infant's journey to walking. Taking a few more steps each time, gaining confidence until finally reaching success and walking. Was there failure? Yes, but so much more when success was eventually attained. Those failures brought that infant experience, confidence, progress…and success.  

 It's the same for all of us as we start each new journey, effort, or project. Very few of us will get it right the first time; most of us won't get it right the second or third time, either. We will fail, and sometimes we will fail miserably. And that's okay because, in each failure, we will gain so much more than we lose. We might lose our dignity for a bit, or we might lose money, or sometimes we might lose our place, our faith, or our confidence. But in each failure, we gain the knowledge of our strength to get up and try again; we gain experience; we can see what doesn't work and move on; and we gain confidence, the confidence to keep going, to keep trying, and to keep progressing.

 If you think about it, failure is only harmful when you let it stop you. When you stop trying, stop getting up, stop moving forward, and stop learning. That is where the negative connotation lies, not in the word failure but in one's inaction after a failure.

 For what it's worth, my two cents on failure… when you look at it, you realize that failure is the key to success. It is the failures that make the successes so sweet and meaningful. Really, failure is success if you use it to grow, gain experience and confidence, and progress.