Although we all prefer to avoid failure, you can only learn something or gain experience, by doing it often, failing in the process, and trying again. Here’s how failure actually helps you get further in life.
1: Failure can grow your talent
Psychologist Carol Dweck of Stanford University has been researching learning, performance, and the relationship with failure for years. Her studies show that there are two ways to deal with adversity. ‘Fixed thinkers’ are people who want to focus on tasks they can already do and prefer to stay out of the ‘failure zone’, while ‘expansion thinkers’ are not afraid of a challenge and are motivated by doing their best. When they fail, they just try again, and after the second or third attempt they’re so much better at whatever it is they were working on, than they were before.
2: Failure increases the chance of success
Many successes have arisen from the greatest failures. Think of companies such as Google and Philips. They work on the principle that a success story is always accompanied by a failure, because the things you did wrong before, you do differently – and correctly – later. They share this philosophy with their colleagues, and by seeing what went wrong, other great ideas often arise.
3: Failure gives new insights
Things can’t always go perfectly. Sometimes you may have overlooked a certain factor, or you’ve had to react so quickly that you make the wrong choice in the mayhem. But all these moments of ‘failure’ are actually small moments of success in your personal development. From now on, you’ll approach the same situation differently in the future. You’ve learned your lesson, and your failure will help you to gain new and better insights.
Bonus tip: What did you “forget”?
Make a list of everything that you’re good at or enjoy doing. No doubt you have something else in mind – something that makes you think: “People don’t see that as talent, do they?” or, “But I can never make it my job, can I?” Now write these talents down too! Your list is now complete, and a great starting point for your personal development journey.
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