- Failure isn’t the end and success isn’t the most important thing. With failure, you will learn what you truly value and that can make you a better person.
- Though professional failures are painful, they can teach us valuable lessons that will help us as we start our next venture.
- Failure even helps us in our social lives as we enter a strong community of other people who have failed and by showing us who our true friends are.
There are some things in this world that are certainties: death, taxes, and failure. We will all fail at some point at something. Many of us are chasing the feeling of success and along that path are many times we will fall short.
The beauty of failure is in what it teaches us. Here are five areas of your life where failure can teach you something and some of the lessons you’ll learn.
Personally
First of all, failure will affect you personally, but it’s not all bad. It can teach you many lessons. The first of which is to accept and embrace change. It will keep happening so learning how to accept that and move past the ups and downs will make you much happier throughout your personal life. This has the added bonus of helping you to stay humble, because even when you’re succeeding, you’ll know that it doesn’t mean failure won’t happen.
Failure can also broaden your perspective about life and what’s important in it. With this comes a renewed sense of compassion as you redefine your priorities. You will see that when you’re at your best, there are others who appear to be failing who need your support and care rather than judgement. Prioritizing your compassion is one of the deepest changes that can come from failure.
As you recognize and prioritize good habits and personal characteristics, failure will also show you what your bad habits are. Things like laziness will suddenly be very apparent. If you’re bad at interacting with people, you will soon realize it. Embrace this realization and change those bad habits. It will help you in the long run.
Changing those bad habits is how failure helps you build character. It’s our character that matters the most. What type of person do you want to be remembered as? Change what you have to do to be remembered as a good person, rather than simply someone who had some success.
Emotionally
Failure is also like a masterclass in how to cope with your emotions. When you realize you’ve failed at something, you will go through a roller coaster of emotions and for good reason. It’s a monumental thing in a person’s life. You might feel denial, anger, frustration, sadness.
With each of these emotions, you will need to learn how to cope in healthy ways. Look at and analyze your emotions and coping mechanisms. Research healthy coping skills and you’ll have new emotional maturity that can benefit you for the rest of your life.
You will also start to look at obstacles in life differently than before. When you come to an obstacle, how do you feel? Is there a sense of frustration that your way isn’t easy or do you feel the thrill of a challenge? When you fail, you will approach the next obstacle with a new sense of purpose, rather than dejection.
Along with that, failure will give you courage in the face of new obstacles. You will never run out of obstacles and without courage, you may not have the capability to overcome an obstacle. As you fail, you develop that courage so you can meet any challenge square in the face and charge at it head on.
Professionally
Whatever area of your life you experienced failure, it can still help you professionally. One of the most valuable lessons it teaches is that not every idea is worth the effort. Some ideas are just bad, plain and simple. Being able to quickly identify those bad ideas can help you revise your approach in all aspects of your professional life. Even with small decisions throughout the day, your approach will be different because you understand that you need to prioritize the good ideas and decisions and throw out the bad.
Failure can also be a great motivator. For some, failure can cripple them, but for you, you can use it as your motivation to try something else and succeed. It will foster your creativity as you try to think of your next great idea. And along that road of starting anew, you will not take no from yourself. You will instead say yes to trying again and being innovative.
There are some practical lessons failure will teach, as well. Things like time management, how to plan, and general organization are invaluable in the workforce, no matter your position. If you can sit down and identify what practical skills were lacking during your failure, you can see where you need to improve and use that as your catalyst for change.
Socially
Failure’s lessons extend even to our social lives. Think about the last time you failed. Who was there by your side? Who turned your back on you? Above all, failure will quickly show you who your true friends are. Those who are only around when things are going well are not true friends and don’t deserve your time and attention. Instead, focus your time and energy on those who are there even when things go belly up.
As you come back from a failure, you may find yourself finding inspiration from others and this is a great thing. Look at those who have the success you crave. What are they doing now? What did they do when they failed along the way? Mirror their moves and follow their path. It’s already been laid out for you and can help you get back on track towards success.
You’ll also enjoy a deeper sense of community. Everyone has a story of failure. This commiseration can bond people and you can find yourself a tribe where you will be safe to try again.
Takeaways
Failure is inevitable. Accept that. And when you fail, look at the lessons you are learning. Above all, failure is an opportunity to grow as a person and change your perspective of the world. As you look for the lessons that come from failure, you’ll find it’s a gift you’ve been given that will launch you into your next success.