We live in a world of instant gratification, where successes are worshiped and failures buried carelessly. Our society seems to be highly unwilling to see failure as a good thing, instead it uses it to determine how bad we are at a particular skill.
This type of worth society puts on failures hinders us from either trying again in case something bad happened during our first attempt or worse, from taking the plunge towards our first step.
As much as we love hearing success stories, we also have to get comfortable to include failures in our thought process and recognize the benefits it triggers.
Benefit of Failure n.1: You Learn Precious and Unforgettable Lessons
More often than not, failure takes place when we make mistakes. Several are the reasons that lead us to make mistakes.
We make mistakes because we decide to take the road less-traveled and for this reason we find ourselves in unexplored territories.
In this scenario, all we have in mind is our final destination but we don’t really know how to get there except by continuously experimenting until we succeed.
Another reason why we make mistakes is because we tend to follow the exact same path traveled by others before us. unfortunately without taking into consideration the different external and internal factors such as timing, personal knowledge and
Unfortunately, if this is the case, we don’t take into consideration the different external and internal factors such as timing, personal knowledge and support network, that can easily have an influence on our ultimate goal.
All the mistakes we make and the failures that eventually follow, are able to shed light on the false steps we’ve taken and teach us how not to blunder if we’ll ever face a similar experience in the future.
Benefit of Failure n.2: You Become More Receptive To Advices
The more you experience failure the more you are willing to accept external help.
As showed in the previous point, a stable circle of friends, peers and mentors can sometimes be the ultimate success factor for whatever you are trying to accomplish.
What happens in reality, especially if we are at our first experience, is that we get caught up by the enthusiasm of the moment and become pretty much insensitive to the external world.
Surrounding yourself with like-minded people is an excellent way to easily bounce off ideas and get valuable feedback whether you are just starting out or you are well on your path towards success.
There are times when an external perspective can be immensely valuable and help you avoid mistakes that you would have otherwise made.
Benefit of Failure n.3: You Gain More Clarity
Sometimes failure comes from over-complicated processes or from us wanting to score too many points all at once.
We may lose sight of the reason why we started our journey, we may get distracted by other interesting opportunities that often enter into conflict with our initial goal.
Failure helps us refocus our energy on the important stuff.
Regularly questioning the “why” of what you are doing is necessary to reapprove or revise your end goal. A clear objective is required to identify what is of primary importance or unnecessary.
Benefit of Failure n.4: You’ll Find Out Who Is Your True Friend
When things go well, friends and peers seem to naturally want to stay at your side.
But as soon as the waters get a little rough and you need support, you’ll start seeing who is really willing to help you in this moment of temporary adversity and who instead decides to distance himself from the situation.
It’s important for you, at any moment of your journey, to talk and share your ideas with trusted people.
Talking about failure is as important as the failure itself; it helps you accept it and advance faster towards whatever goal you might have.
Benefit of Failure n.5: Failure Is The Catalyst For Change
By now you should see failure as a good thing.
Failure gives you the chance to start anew, with more knowledge and certainly with more confidence.
You hopefully learned from your mistakes and now you have more tools that will propel you towards greater successes.
To Recap
Failure is by far the fastest and most effective way to learn new things.
If you think carefully, the greatest learnings of our lives don’t come when things just flow nice and easy, but rather when we struggle and have to learn how to stand up and find the balance, without falling too many times and getting hurt.
I end today’s article with a brilliant quote by Maya Angelou, which will certainly inspire you to take action and stop avoiding failure.
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.
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