Failure is Always an Option

I'm not quite sure what to make of people who say, "Failure is not an option."

Are they just trying to be all rah-rah, in the belief that saying something so manifestly untrue will be somehow motivational? (That's what I've always suspected about the Health and Safety types who insist, "We must believe that zero accidents is achievable." No we mustn't, and no it isn't.)

Do they think I'm stupid, and that they can therefore insult my intelligence with impunity?

Or do they really, truly believe what they're saying?

It doesn't really matter. Any of the above is a huge problem.

Failure is always an option. In our imperfect world, where we control far less than we'd love to believe, failure is now and forevermore a lurking possibility.

In any important undertaking, we should assess the potential loss in the event of a failure and take appropriate steps to avoid that loss. The amount of appropriate effort and expenditure is different in each case, but what is never the case is that we can expend enough effort and enough time and enough money to completely eliminate failure's possible grasp on us. Even if we are scrupulously cautious, and take extreme steps to avoid failure, we still may fail. Welcome to real life.

I submit that believing failure is not an option, and failing to have backup plans for the possibility of failure, is a bigger potential disaster than most possible failures themselves. Most failures can be recovered from, and can (counter-intuitively) lead to resounding successes if dealt with well. (That's the subject of my next article.) But most likely not if you don't have a mindset ready to deal with failure.

The best case is to envision and work for success, but also to try to foresee possible failures and prepare for them. And most of all, to understand that it's impossible to envision all potential failures, and to be mentally ready to deal with the unforeseen ones too.

Failure is always an option. Be prepared for it.