Recently I’ve read a lot
about failure, the most interesting being an article about a school set up in
the US
If you think back to you when we were children, learning to walk…We didn’t just get up one day and decide today is the day I will walk. No there were the days, weeks, months of trying, falling flat on our faces and bums, wobbly legs and shaky first few steps – but ultimately we succeeded. I think the one big difference between now and then is that we were then brave enough to try, determined to succeed no matter how many times we ‘failed’.
Living in a world obsessed with success makes us scared to fail. However failure can be motivating; if everything were handed to us on a plate, I know I would find it hugely demotivating. What would be the point in doing anything if it was all that easy? I strive for the challenge. Don’t get me wrong, I’m never 100% sure of myself; the first sign of trouble I do get nervous and panic, but at the same time I love the feeling. Will it or won’t it make it into the paper? Will my idea at our brainstorm meetings be met with a roar of laughter? It’s easy to be scared and keep your opinions to yourself and shy away from group discussions. What’s harder is having faith in yourself and being brave enough to speak your mind, and to share your thoughts and ideas. The best example of this is the many lectures I sat through at university where when the lecturer asks a question and the whole hall falls silent. Why? Because no one is brave enough to speak and ultimately fail. But how can you expect to learn, grow and succeed unless you are willing to take a risk?
Failure only makes us stronger; the things to take away are ‘what have I learnt’ and ‘what have I done’. The point of failure is to recover and learn from it. Put the failures behind you and move on from them. No one is perfect the first time around…Henry Ford said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time…” So it’s time to stop being scared and learn to embrace failure. As Joseph Chilton Pearce said, “In order to live a creative life we must loose our fear of being wrong”.
By Pema Seely
If you think back to you when we were children, learning to walk…We didn’t just get up one day and decide today is the day I will walk. No there were the days, weeks, months of trying, falling flat on our faces and bums, wobbly legs and shaky first few steps – but ultimately we succeeded. I think the one big difference between now and then is that we were then brave enough to try, determined to succeed no matter how many times we ‘failed’.
Living in a world obsessed with success makes us scared to fail. However failure can be motivating; if everything were handed to us on a plate, I know I would find it hugely demotivating. What would be the point in doing anything if it was all that easy? I strive for the challenge. Don’t get me wrong, I’m never 100% sure of myself; the first sign of trouble I do get nervous and panic, but at the same time I love the feeling. Will it or won’t it make it into the paper? Will my idea at our brainstorm meetings be met with a roar of laughter? It’s easy to be scared and keep your opinions to yourself and shy away from group discussions. What’s harder is having faith in yourself and being brave enough to speak your mind, and to share your thoughts and ideas. The best example of this is the many lectures I sat through at university where when the lecturer asks a question and the whole hall falls silent. Why? Because no one is brave enough to speak and ultimately fail. But how can you expect to learn, grow and succeed unless you are willing to take a risk?
Failure only makes us stronger; the things to take away are ‘what have I learnt’ and ‘what have I done’. The point of failure is to recover and learn from it. Put the failures behind you and move on from them. No one is perfect the first time around…Henry Ford said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time…” So it’s time to stop being scared and learn to embrace failure. As Joseph Chilton Pearce said, “In order to live a creative life we must loose our fear of being wrong”.
By Pema Seely
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