I read this today and I felt it needed to be shared.
"Just as tearing muscles through exercise creates strength, or nose-diving a plane helps to restart a faulty engine, failure is often the best path to success.
Rather than hiding from our mistakes and failures, if we embrace them, we’ll be in a better position to learn and succeed on our next attempt. This is a concept that we all understand, but sometimes it just looks too painful to try.
Acknowledging that failure is a good idea is easy, but actually changing your mindset is harder. To that end, I’ve compiled five easy ways to get started. Start with one or two, and you’ll be well on your way to getting the most out of failure.
1. Forgive failure in others
For some, it’s actually easier to see the link between failure and success in others, because there isn’t the same emotional baggage that hangs around personal failures.
But don’t just acknowledge other people’s failures; forgive them. As you become more practiced in seeing the value of failure in others, eventually you’ll start to see it in yourself. If you can be a little kinder to those around you when failure becomes apparent, then eventually you’ll be kinder to yourself as well. It’s just a matter of practice.
2. Acknowledge past mistakes
Too often we try to sweep our mistakes under the rug or block them out of our minds, but there is much to be gained from acknowledgement. And it’s as easy as looking back at your past and finding things about which you can say “that was an epic failure.” Say it, share it, own it. The most important step is to think about what you learned from the experience and allow it to shift your mental model about what is needed to succeed.
3. Set yourself up to fail
When we are young, we try many new things; as adults, we tend to do so less often. Part of the reason is because we are busy, part of the reason is because we think we are too old to try new things, but mostly we are afraid to fail.
To counter these emotions, think of something you won’t be good at but wish you were — a new sport or hobby, for example — and give it a try. Yes, you will probably fail at first. But over time, you will build new muscle memory that will remind you how to learn, and how learning comes with failure.
Our brains actually need failure in order to grow. Even little failures can teach us great things, and big failures can make us truly great.
4. Take your failures public
There are a growing number of people who have publicly posted a CV of failures or a “ relevant resume” that describe their failures and not just their accomplishments. If you’re ready to take the plunge and put your failures out there for the world, more power to you.
If posting online isn’t your thing, consider participating in a failure event. FailCon, started in San Francisco in 2009, now takes place in nine cities worldwide. It’s “for technology entrepreneurs, investors, developers and designers to study their own and others’ failures and prepare for success.”
Similarly, the bluntly titled F***up Nights is “a global movement born in Mexico in 2012 to share publicly business failure stories.” Organizers say that hundreds attend each event to listen to speakers tell tales of their biggest mistakes. The event has spread like wildfire; F***Up Nights have taken place in 150 cities across the world.
Or you could create a “failure wall” in your office, as we have done throughout our offices.
5. Change how you talk to children
This one is for extra credit, and it’s particularly valuable for parents or anyone with regular interactions with kids. A study published this summer showed that children absorb their parents’ perspectives on failure.
There are roughly two types of parents: those who see failure as “debilitating” and those who see failure as “enhancing.” Failure-as-enhancing parents encourage their children to learn from their mistakes and turn weaknesses into strengths. Failure-as-debilitating parents comfort their children for something like a bad grade on a test and then encourage them to find other things they are good at.
The latter is far more common, but guess which approach is a better predictor of success and happiness? Sure enough, children adopt their parents’ mindset, and that, in turn, dictates their self-beliefs.
Children who believe failure can be positive also believe that they can improve, whereas children who are taught to avoid failure assume that their intelligence is fixed and their lives are determined. Do society a favor by helping the next generation succeed, even if you haven’t failed enough.
Does some of this sound hard, maybe a bit daunting? Tough luck, as the failure movement shows no signs of slowing down, and with good reason: the benefits for individuals, companies, and societies are huge.
If you are intimidated, start small by picking one step. Embracing failure, and allowing yourself to learn from it rather than fear it, is as simple and as difficult as changing your mindset a little bit at a time. Take one of these small steps today, and see how it starts to change your perspective."
"Just as tearing muscles through exercise creates strength, or nose-diving a plane helps to restart a faulty engine, failure is often the best path to success.
Rather than hiding from our mistakes and failures, if we embrace them, we’ll be in a better position to learn and succeed on our next attempt. This is a concept that we all understand, but sometimes it just looks too painful to try.
Acknowledging that failure is a good idea is easy, but actually changing your mindset is harder. To that end, I’ve compiled five easy ways to get started. Start with one or two, and you’ll be well on your way to getting the most out of failure.
1. Forgive failure in others
For some, it’s actually easier to see the link between failure and success in others, because there isn’t the same emotional baggage that hangs around personal failures.
But don’t just acknowledge other people’s failures; forgive them. As you become more practiced in seeing the value of failure in others, eventually you’ll start to see it in yourself. If you can be a little kinder to those around you when failure becomes apparent, then eventually you’ll be kinder to yourself as well. It’s just a matter of practice.
2. Acknowledge past mistakes
Too often we try to sweep our mistakes under the rug or block them out of our minds, but there is much to be gained from acknowledgement. And it’s as easy as looking back at your past and finding things about which you can say “that was an epic failure.” Say it, share it, own it. The most important step is to think about what you learned from the experience and allow it to shift your mental model about what is needed to succeed.
3. Set yourself up to fail
When we are young, we try many new things; as adults, we tend to do so less often. Part of the reason is because we are busy, part of the reason is because we think we are too old to try new things, but mostly we are afraid to fail.
To counter these emotions, think of something you won’t be good at but wish you were — a new sport or hobby, for example — and give it a try. Yes, you will probably fail at first. But over time, you will build new muscle memory that will remind you how to learn, and how learning comes with failure.
Our brains actually need failure in order to grow. Even little failures can teach us great things, and big failures can make us truly great.
4. Take your failures public
There are a growing number of people who have publicly posted a CV of failures or a “ relevant resume” that describe their failures and not just their accomplishments. If you’re ready to take the plunge and put your failures out there for the world, more power to you.
If posting online isn’t your thing, consider participating in a failure event. FailCon, started in San Francisco in 2009, now takes place in nine cities worldwide. It’s “for technology entrepreneurs, investors, developers and designers to study their own and others’ failures and prepare for success.”
Similarly, the bluntly titled F***up Nights is “a global movement born in Mexico in 2012 to share publicly business failure stories.” Organizers say that hundreds attend each event to listen to speakers tell tales of their biggest mistakes. The event has spread like wildfire; F***Up Nights have taken place in 150 cities across the world.
Or you could create a “failure wall” in your office, as we have done throughout our offices.
5. Change how you talk to children
This one is for extra credit, and it’s particularly valuable for parents or anyone with regular interactions with kids. A study published this summer showed that children absorb their parents’ perspectives on failure.
There are roughly two types of parents: those who see failure as “debilitating” and those who see failure as “enhancing.” Failure-as-enhancing parents encourage their children to learn from their mistakes and turn weaknesses into strengths. Failure-as-debilitating parents comfort their children for something like a bad grade on a test and then encourage them to find other things they are good at.
The latter is far more common, but guess which approach is a better predictor of success and happiness? Sure enough, children adopt their parents’ mindset, and that, in turn, dictates their self-beliefs.
Children who believe failure can be positive also believe that they can improve, whereas children who are taught to avoid failure assume that their intelligence is fixed and their lives are determined. Do society a favor by helping the next generation succeed, even if you haven’t failed enough.
Does some of this sound hard, maybe a bit daunting? Tough luck, as the failure movement shows no signs of slowing down, and with good reason: the benefits for individuals, companies, and societies are huge.
If you are intimidated, start small by picking one step. Embracing failure, and allowing yourself to learn from it rather than fear it, is as simple and as difficult as changing your mindset a little bit at a time. Take one of these small steps today, and see how it starts to change your perspective."
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