“It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default,” said the Published Author, J.K. Rowling.
There’s a universal stigma around failure. Everyone wants to succeed on their first try, and once it doesn’t go their way, they’re devastated. The mental toll the need to succeed has on us is exhausting. However, we purposely aim for failure all the time!
Think of practicing sports or even cooking a meal; that is just controlled failure. We redo a task over and over, knowing we’re going to get better eventually. Think of working out; we exhaust our bodies to the point where our muscles fail, knowing it’s only going to get stronger. It’s the same with failing a test, drawing, or fixing your computer. You’re going to get better on the second or third try. If that isn’t convincing enough, here are five reasons why failure can be good for you.
You know yourself better when you fail
When you try to do something, you would be aiming for success, giving it your all. Once you fail, it’s normal to get shocked. Failing means you’ve overestimated your judgment and your capabilities. You set off thinking you’ve calculated every possibility, only to learn that you haven’t, and maybe you’re not as good as you thought. That might be true, but it’s not so bad. Now you get a better understanding of your capabilities, what you can and can’t do. From then on, you would know what needs to be personally improved and worked on.
Failing enhances your problem-solving skills
Sometimes you would have a list of the whys and the hows to achieve your goal, yet you fail. Therefore, it might be time to ask yourself: what else is there to do that can encourage resourcefulness and creativity? With so many means and the internet at hand, there’s no reason not to get innovative.
You learn a lot from failure
When reality hits, it can be soul-crushing. Nevertheless, you have to keep going. Now that you know you’re not so great, failure teaches you to stay humble. It’s sort of sad, but so is reality. Reality also entails a lot of changes; nothing is constant. Changing directions doesn’t sit right with some people, but failure will teach you to welcome change. Furthermore, defeat will shine a light on where your energy’s worth spending. Not every idea would be worth your while, so stay focused.
It gives you a will of steel
No one is perfect and everyone knows that. What might be perfect is if you know your imperfections. Accept your shortcomings and rest assured that they’re fixable. Once you’ve polished up your capabilities a little, it’s easy to imagine getting even better. Failing once and twice only means you’re going to get stronger and more persistent to reach your goal.
Failing opens new doors
Coming up short means that you took a step that just wasn’t in the right direction. The reasonable response is to try another road. If you’re set on your way and it goes south, then it’s probably time to try something new. With so many options at this age, failing only guides you to new paths and experiences!
Do you think that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb overnight? He didn’t. He tried and failed many times, yet his outlook was always positive. This great man once said, “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”