Embrace Failure

We are all failures. Damn, that sounds pretty cynical, doesn’t it? That is because we have been conditioned to associate such a negative connotation to the words failure or fail. Western culture so values individual success that the idea of not being successful in your life deems you worthy of a pitiful title, as if that is all you have ever done. Well of course no one has failed in absolutely everything in their life, even the most unsuccessful among us have succeeded in surviving another day. So if being a failure means you have failed at something in particular,  we can all be considered failures, and I believe it’s time we start embracing the opportunity for growth that failure provides.

          I bet you have all heard of the failures of famous people in a popular thread that has made its way through email chains, trivia games, movies and word of mouth. There are the famous cases such as Edison failing 1,000 times to invent the light bulb before finding the right method and materials (not to diminish the contributions of engineer Lewis Latimer). There is Henry Ford who went bankrupt twice before finally founding a successful company. Walt Disney failed multiple times to create his animation studios, even having everything taken away from him when he had finally created a successful animated character. I could go on and on listing successful people and how badly they failed before achieving their dreams, but the point I am trying to make is simple. If they had given up after their failures, imagine how far back that would have set humanity in quality of life and entertainment. Imagine if everyone that experiences a great misfortune would give up and cast themselves as failures

      So if success comes from persevering after failure, why should we embrace failure? If anything those failures just delayed the success and held back progress and we would have been better off if that person would have just succeeded right away. All of the posts about successful people having failed and persevered all have the same moral, “it is okay if you fail, as long as you get back up again and don’t quit.” As important of a lesson as that is, I am taking  it a step further and saying that you should not only get up and try again, but embrace that failure for the amazing learning experience that it was.

When asked about failing to invent the light bulb after 1,000 prototypes, Edison famously said, “I have not failed 1,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 1,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” He understood that those failures were necessary, they were teaching him how to succeed by showing him what doesn’t work.

          One of the reason we are so advanced as a species is our ability to learn from others past mistakes through reading. One of my favorite quotes is from Will Smith who explained to kids that reading is one of the most important things in life because “…there have been gazillions of people that have lived before all of us. There’s no new problem you could have–with your parents, with school, with a bully. There’s no new problem that someone hasn’t already had and written about it in a book.” When we read we are able to see how past people failed, which helps us from making those same mistakes. Sadly though, this isn’t a perfect method. Many of us choose not to read, for others, their hubris makes them believe they won’t make the same mistakes. But what is true for almost everyone, is that the lessons from a failure aren’t properly ingrained into the framework of our brains until we experience that failure firsthand.

     

    We should always strive to succeed, but we should know that failing is a fundamental part of life. Sometimes we fail because that is the best way to learn, sometimes we fail because we are on the wrong path, and sometimes we need to fail so that we can be humbled and truly appreciate when things go right. I am not calling for you to go out and try to fail. I am not telling you to give up and settle after having failed. I am not telling you that we should award everyone the same regardless of their results. I am trying to tell you that failure should not be looked at with shame and guilt. I am telling you that you should see your failures for their true value. 

          Look back at your failures and see them as the time where you became wiser, stronger, more sympathetic to the hardships of others and more appreciative for your successes. Look at those failures as trials that made you grow into a person that can face life more prepared to be successful than ever before. Stand up, keep fighting, and take on the title of failure proudly. You have overcome something in your life that has made you better in a myriad of ways and you have not given up, and for that, you have succeeded.