Despite the fact that it could hurt, it is a necessary component of success and a crucial aspect of life.

If you’re like the majority of people on earth, you’ve failed much more often than you’d want to acknowledge. Certainly, I have. Huge failures. Big, hunky, capital-letter LIFE MISTAKES, I mean. Despite this, I’m still here, still living, and still navigating the ups and downs of life. And you, I’m certain, can attest to it. We all manage to overcome our setbacks and emerge stronger on the other side. And as a result of what we’ve learned and how much we’ve grown, we’re better people, perhaps with a bit more humility and sympathy for our fellow beings who also make mistakes, pick themselves up, and try again. In the end, failure helps us become better people. It draws our attention, jolts us a little, and improves our vision. We gain a new viewpoint. In actuality, failure is required.

Hence, let’s envision a society where failure is celebrated rather than feared and every setback is considered as a step towards achievement. Thomas Edison would have hosted the biggest failure party in this parallel reality after failing 10,000 times to create the light bulb. After missing a shot that would have won the game, Michael Jordan would have embraced his teammates. You get a failure, and YOU get a failure, as Oprah Winfrey is known to have said. EVERYONE experiences failure! Woo-hoo! Failure would then become the ultimate success’s secret weapon rather than the enemy.
And this isn’t just a motivational speech intended to keep you upbeat. Science, indeed!

Studies on failure

A study at Northwestern University proved that failure is crucial by employing one of the oddest and most varied sets of data ever gathered. The National Institutes of Health received nearly 800,000 grant proposals over a 30-year period, which Dashun Wang, associate professor of management and organisations at Northwestern, and his colleagues examined. Next they looked at venture capital startup investments made over a 46-year period. And, get this, the researchers examined more than 170,000 terrorist incidents between 1970 and 2017 to ensure they would have a very strong set of data to establish a dependable technique of predicting the success or failure of an endeavour. What did they discover? Everybody starts out as a loser, remarked Wang, who began the study in 2019.

Of course, we are aware that success in anything requires perseverance, smart thinking, decent ideas, and hard work. Having a little luck helps a lot, too. But, failure—the one thing we’re trying to avoid—is, in Wang and his team’s words, “the crucial prerequisite for success.” Another noteworthy aspect of the study is this: Both those who finally succeeded and those who ultimately failed attempted to accomplish their goals roughly the same number of times. Thus, perseverance was not the only factor that led to success in the end. Repeatedly trying only works if you learn from your mistakes. It involves being diligent in determining precisely what worked and what didn’t in prior attempts and concentrating on the particular elements that need to be improved. According to Wang, individuals who failed didn’t necessarily put in less effort than those who were successful. It’s just that they made more useless modifications when they could have worked harder.

Wang and his team looked at a huge number of projects. The time between consecutive failures was one of the key success markers they discovered. Such gaps ought to close as learning progresses, in theory. In essence, your chances of success increase the faster you try something, fail, and try again. Also, the likelihood that you will fail again increases with the length of time between tries. Wang claimed that by simply examining the intervals between failures, it would be possible to determine whether or not they would ultimately succeed. Determining what went wrong and fixing it before moving on to the next effort is the best strategy.

Long time ago

You’ve already failed a lot, as I happen to know. But the majority of your mistakes happened a while ago. You probably don’t recall that you formerly lacked the ability to walk, talk, count to five, or even write your own name. How do you feel right now? All of those actions may be performed without thought, right? How did you discover those facts? Oh, you fell on your face, a LOT. You spoke incessantly. Your fingers and toes were counted (with help). And you repeatedly practised each letter of your name in huge scrawls. What if we now adopt that viewpoint? Indeed, you could fail at anything tomorrow. Yet before long, none of it will remain in your memory. You may therefore shake it off quickly.

You can learn whatever you need to know and go on with your life as soon as you can let those failures go. What else about failure is positive? Failing can be enjoyable The road to success must include failure, and not simply because it is a crucial element in the learning process. If you know how to look at it, failure can really be one of the most fun aspects of the experience. A fantastic method to develop character is via failure. To keep going once things don’t work out, you need to have some grit and resolve. Failure forces you to dig deep and summon the willpower to carry on. Additionally, when you do succeed, it’s all the sweeter because of the struggles you went through to get there.

Failure encourages you to be innovative, which is another factor that makes it so crucial to success. When something doesn’t work out, you have to come up with fresh concepts and methods. Failure can be amusing if you don’t take it too seriously. When things don’t work out, instead of beating yourself up, consider it an opportunity to develop and learn. Moreover, keep in mind that you can only fail if you give up. You can still play the game as long as you keep moving forward.

Finally, don’t be afraid to laugh heartily at your early failures. Failure may be humiliating, and sometimes the best way to handle it is to laugh about it. You’re less inclined to overthink things when you can laugh at yourself and your errors. Failure is “the key prerequisite for success,” as Wang put it. It’s a fantastic method to study, develop moral character, and be creative. And depending on how you approach it, it might even be enjoyable!

Hi, I’m Garima and I write about life experiences. I have several books available on Amazon. Check them out today! Any purchases or KDP reads will be greatly appreciated. If you like my books, do leave a review. Here’s my author page on Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0BQDZXYNV