Fail, alot
Failure needs a rebranding. Face it, you think it’s bad to fail. Well, you are incorrect. Failing is how you grow and change in the fastest way. In fact, if you didn’t fail, you might not make progress. It’s really simple when you get rid of the old beliefs we harbor about failing. We actually need to fail, alot.
F might not mean failure
In school, an F in any subject demonstrated a lack of accomplishment. The student did not absorb the teaching. Strangely, retaking the class is the usual next step. Would taking a class again result in a different mark? There might be a repeat of the initial failure if the reason for the benchmark miss remained unknown. In the end, it makes more sense to find out the why behind the F and then move forward to take another step.
A great failure
The failure that provides the most benefit is the one that illustrates where the learning needs to occur. For instance, I should have realized that I didn’t understand geometry well when I received a poor grade instead of just hating geometry class. Now, when I don’t catch onto something easily, I know that there is an opportunity for me to get behind the subject and focus on learning. I can prove to myself that anything is possible with the right thought. I can have a great failure.
Failure muscles
There is such a thing as failure muscles, not to be confused with muscles that fail. Learning comes from mastery over time. Building up my failure muscles means that the next time I fail, my ace will be achieved that much sooner. And the scourge of failing will decrease with each new success. It isn’t particularly easy to grow those muscles because failing can create shame and other pesky feelings. Backing away from the need to beat myself up when I don’t know something feels much nicer inside. Releasing the need to be perfect is a joy. Allowing someone else to be a great teacher and share that mastery creates a bond; who doesn’t want more of that?
What can you fail at easily to help get you over the need to be great? Has the fear of failure kept you from trying to learn? What happens when you don’t have to think that way?
