Failures and Success

What struck me about the student’s question was the “if you knew you couldn’t fail” thing, like that’s ever realistically part of the equation. Stuff can go wrong all the time, the point is to be resilient and work through the bumps, improvise and give it a go.

Also, I find that there’s rarely a binary “fail or success” judgment on things- it’s often a case of “Well, that was okay, but could I do better next time? If I fell short of the “best” result, how can I use the results I did get and learn what to do next time? I look at it more as a spectrum of results than a pure win/lose proposition. For example, I don’t expect to win a half-marathon, but I do expect to participate and do my best, and my “competition” is more internal markers of progress than a mere win/lose sort of thing.
We can always go back and revamp our prep before a “test” or “assessment” of how well we’ve done, how much we’ve learned, etc. so we can have an idea of what to tweek in the future- the danger comes from looking at the results and NOT assessing how you got there.
(By the by, this is what I find the major problem with standardized testing in schools- it is used as an assessment only, not diagnostic of what additional tings a kid needs to learn or support they might need, and that’s where it falls down.)

I love the comments on this thread that celebrate the education that only comes through glorious failures. I am not at all afraid of failure. Perhaps it’s because I don’t think much about what other people think of me. I have the confidence of knowing a few people love me, no matter what. I know God is, so I am. It doesn’t make me failure-proof, but it gives me the sense of confidence to try again and again and again.

Regarding the student’s comment…I gave a coffee mug with that expression to my husband when he was on the brink of a new business. It was scary, and I wanted him to quit thinking about the “what ifs” of failure and focus on the what ifs of success…what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail reminds you to let loose the restraining fear of failure and to instead, embrace what you are capable of. The gift of failure can still happen, but sometimes, we need to remind one another how spectacularly we can gift the world when we succeed. I think that quote is just that little reminder…a nudge to pursue the great dreams.

The question by the student makes for a good quote, but in the real world, there is always a price attached to failure.

Very often, organizations will tell employees “it is OK to fail” but then, the price of that failure is exorbitantly high. This is a surefire way to kill innovation and learning, no?

Type your comment here.article! Failure and success is a constantly evolving perception. Once we arrive at one goal, we can gather our thoughts, reassess and set new goals. Ad constantly learn, grow and evolve! Thanks for such a great read! Keep it coming!

“Everything is impossible until it isn’t.” Smart phones, computers, airplanes, indoor plumbing, fire, etc. EVERYTHING.

And no path to give your deepest gift is ever going to be problem-free. As a matter of fact, the more resistance aka failure you meet, the more you can be assured that you’re on the right track. It should encourage you.

No great person ever changed the/their world with ZERO challenge. When you welcome challenge, you welcome success.

Thank you Chris for shining you light here and sharing your gifts with the world!

“Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?” -Robert Kennedy

Why hasn’t anyone???

I love the notion of failing fast and early. Sometimes we can get stuck on trying to make sure everything is just perfect before we even step out and try. Thanks for push Chris!

Great Post.
“Fail fast and early” – makes so much sense.
Getting past the “fear of failure” is so crucial ad can be difficult at times… That fear can be so paralyzing. This article resonates with me and reminds me to just GO! Thanks for a great read.

Well what you don’t want to do just AS important as finding that right position that will help my career flourish.

The witdrawal symptoms would be something fierce without them, that is, until the next ‘needed’ was there to replace them. Companies that go viral give almost instant fame to the founders and label them in the ‘genius’ rankings.

What a great post. I’ve always looked at failure as a way to learn and improve; you always have to get back on that horse when you fall and those falls will make you a better rider in the end. I’ve taken that view on to my professional life as well. Failure is a chance for you to assess what went wrong and to put in place tools to help prevent the same thing from happening again. What isn’t helpful is when you’re in an environment that doesn’t recognize that truth. They’ll see failure as proof that you can’t be trusted not to let anything fall through the cracks, or interpret it as a critical fault line in your abilities. To say such an environment is damaging is an understatement; if you can’t feel free to fail you’ll just end up obsessively trying not to, and in the end, that’s not serving anyone well.

Failure and success is a constantly evolving perception. Once we arrive at one goal, we can gather our thoughts, reassess and set new goals.

Failure is the first step to success – I often heard this proverb and have heard it from all kind of people. Of course yes, I do agree with this proverb, failure will lead you to success and it will help you to learn, but it all depends on the way you approach it.