Making the Most of Failure

Robin Sharma reiterates “A failure only becomes a failure if you let it become a failure”.

So much of what we do and how we perform has to do with our MINDSET. It seems only human beings have a problem with failure and its because we have and exercise LANGUAGE around the word and what it means to us. Let me explain.

The concept of failure carries a negative connotation with it. Nobody is standing on a stage announcing all their failures! People stay stuck in a job, marriage or situation because they are afraid that leaving represents failing or that if they tried something different and failed, they would be just that…a failure. Think to some of your experiences where you felt that you failed or that you were a failure.

Now consider the animal kingdom. There is no language creating an experience of the word. Let me give you an example. When a Cheetah is chasing a zebra and doesn’t get its intended target, which is the zebra, the Cheetah doesn’t sit down in the middle of the plains of Africa and cry and blame its parents ! No, the Cheetah simply recalibrates and makes a different plan. There is no such thing as failure, there is only “the intended target” wasn’t captured. THAT IS IT!

Wouldn’t it be great if that is how humans experienced failure. Failure (intended outcome not achieved) is needed for success. When we try something and then have to rethink or reframe it, the process has created a learning opportunity with no NEGATIVE connotation attached to it . By changing the words you choose around the word failure, you can change your experience and perhaps try something because you want to, not because you are afraid to! Go ahead, I dare you, take the negative experience out of failure and see if it changes your perspective on why failure is needed.