Personal Development

The Benefits of Failure

Turning A New Page
Written by Andy Shaw

Failure is not to be feared, it is an essential part of success.

The word failure means different things to different people and it is understanding the meanings we put on words that will give us access to the path we block for ourselves.

If you see failure as a loss then you will fear it and avoid it. However, if you view it as an essential element of success, which you will try and avoid but accept if it happens… Then you do not fear it and you work diligently to avoid it… But you will accept it, if it happens with no loss of enthusiasm.
You see, words can be good and bad, even though they sometimes look like they can be just bad, or just good.

The human herd seeks to see view things as black or white… The minority of successful people just views things as they are and accept them this way… In doing so they are not holding onto something and trying to force it.

Instead they are looking for ways to nudge with the least effort possible the flow of ‘the way it is’ in a direction which will benefit them. The abundant world of the unsuccessful people see failure as a wholly bad thing. The scarce world of successful people see the word failure as a natural part of success.
Successful people see that failure is just something you must pass through to achieve success, i.e. ~Success lies on the far side of failure~ Thomas J Watson.

So the successful see and accept that the venture they are on in its current guise may indeed fail, but the lessons they will learn on this failure will guide them to far greater success elsewhere. This means that there is no fear of failure, as failure will eventually lead to success… This is just a natural self confidence trait which we all have instinctively… However, unsuccessful people have just lost touch with their natural instincts. You must get back in touch with them if you ever wish to become successful.

And just because successful people know that failure will increase their future success if it happens, doesn’t mean they think it all the time. It just means that they accept it automatically so it requires no effort, no distraction of focus, no thought at all, it just is. As in when they get a setback, they know it is temporary and just part of the process…. They do not beat themselves up about it, it just is.

“Successful people see the benefits of failure, they see it as an essential ingredient for eventual and certain success. They do not like it though, they just accept it as part of their journey.”

Doing All You Can Do To Succeed, Not Doing All You Can Do To Prevent Failure

One of the keys to success is the fact that the successful person recognises the risk of failure in a new venture or in a new pursuit and does whatever they can to mitigate the risk. When they fail they work to contain the fallout and minimise the damage too… They do not beat themselves up about the failure, they accept that it has happened. And they accept fully their part in it, they know they were responsible.

Unsuccessful people look for ways that they can find scapegoats, but secretly know they are responsible… They just hope no one else will find out.

In fact one of the most common traits of a successful person is that they can go from disappointment to disappointment with no loss of enthusiasm. They are confident in their ability to turn it around. They appreciate the lessons they’ve just learnt… They discover their mistakes and use them to inspire greater success.

About the author

Andy Shaw

Creator of  A Bug Free Mind

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