WHY FAILURE IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Those words of Thomas Edison are a great reminder that failure isn’t always a bad thing.

It is easy to look at other people’s achievements and think that those successes came easily or that they are lucky individuals, but the truth is that many successful ventures are borne out of some sort of failure.

As much as it feels painful, failure is an important part of life. Indeed, it is through failure that we learn some of the greatest lessons in life.

When we think about failure, we rarely see it in a positive light – we often associate failing with guilt and regret. But someone who has experienced failure, got back up and learned from the experience will probably tell you that the episode actually turned out to be very valuable and necessary for success.

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Even the most successful people have failed in their lives at some point, but they have leveraged those experiences and used them as a learning curve to achieve success. Taking risks and failing sometimes is important in life.?It shapes who we are and helps us to ultimately become better at what we do.

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Failure isn’t glamorous. We as people naturally want to think about success, celebrating the great achievements and glossing over events that haven’t gone so well.

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So, why is it important to fail?

Failure is not a step backwards, it’s a great stepping stone for success. We don’t grow and learn if we don’t step out of our comfort zone and push ourselves every once in a while. For me failure is part of life and part of business - it’s how we deal with failure that’s important.

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If you’ve failed at something recently or you’re afraid of failing, keep these lessons in mind to help you remember that failure can be a good thing.

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Lesson 1 – knowledge

It is a very important lesson to learn that failure allows us to gain knowledge. ?The experience of failing is potent, because it allows us to reflect on where we went wrong and look at how we can do things differently the next time.

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Lesson 2 – resilience

People who experience failure and then overcome it are likely to be more resilient and better able to cope with what life throws at them. By choosing to learn from the lesson and become wiser, rather than letting failure defeat you, failure then becomes a positive rather than a negative.

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Lesson 3 – perspective

Failure helps us to learn and understand that success isn’t easy and it doesn’t happen overnight. It teaches us that we need to work hard to achieve our goals. It also allows us to reflect and put things into perspective, so that we can navigate away from difficult experiences.

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Lesson 4 – clarity

Failure allows us to see what went wrong and how we could make a new path to success by not making the same mistake again. Failure is inevitable and it can make us feel bad, but it also gives us the opportunity to clearly evaluate a situation and move beyond any regret.

Lesson 5 – courage

We’re taught from a young age that failure is something to be afraid of, but if we never fail, we haven’t really lived. If we’ve experienced failure and bounced back, it can give us the courage to be ambitious and try new things. What’s the worst that can happen if we fail?

Recovering from failure

Pushing ahead and not giving up is one of the best ways to recover from failure. If we understand that it’s okay to fail and we stay motivated and work towards our goals, then failing can be reframed to be a positive thing.

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And if we surround ourselves with people who can support us and help to pick us up if we fail, we can be more confident to take the next leap or calculated risk.

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Failure is feedback and it brings you one step nearer to success.?