Today, we’re going to discuss failure, a topic that we strive to avoid at all costs. The truth is that many of the most successful people initially failed and went on to succeed as a result of the advantages that failure brought into their lives. This is contrary to what we are taught from a young age by our teachers, parents, and society. Therefore, we’ll discuss three ways today how to overcome fear of failure.

Failure is Feedback

An investigation of what divides winners from losers was published in 2019 by researchers from Northwestern University. They gathered millions of data points and found that failure rate, persistence, or even how hard someone worked were not the strongest predictors of success. Whether or not they made a point of learning from their mistakes was the largest indicator of success. You consider failure to be a sort of criticism. When you fail, it usually signifies that your strategy was incorrect and you made a mistake along the road. It’s critical that you recognize the potential for error in these circumstances so you can try to prevent it the next time.

Let’s take the example of trying to improve your social abilities. You just finished a conversation with a friend in which the subject of politics became contentious and the two of you parted ways. You failed in this instance, but it’s okay since at least you received some feedback, forcing you to reconsider how the conversation went.

After some thought, you may decide that perhaps you shouldn’t have become emotional when the topic of politics came up, that perhaps you shouldn’t have characterized the other person as X, Y, or Z, that perhaps you should have avoided the subject entirely, or that you should have let the other person speak and simply listened.

All of these are ideas you can try out the following time as you continue to fail. As you begin to realize there are some things you should or shouldn’t do, you will become ever more adept at communicating with others. You will never receive the feedback required to learn these lessons without repeatedly failing.

Failure Increases Resilience

Researchers followed two groups of freshly laid-off factory workers for the purpose of a study. One group had previously experienced three job losses, whilst the other group had only experienced one. The first group was supposed to be dejected and take longer to get back on their feet, but the researchers were surprised to find that these workers were more optimistic and quickly obtained new jobs than the workers in the second group.

The study found that because members of the first group had encountered failure numerous times before, they were better able to handle it. They were more resilient, in other terms. These workers have encountered failure numerous times during their lives and understood that it was to be expected. They were not as surprised to be laid off once more as the second batch of employees may have been. They gained a more tolerant viewpoint as a result, which helped them concentrate on what they needed to do to obtain employment more quickly.

This way of thinking embodies resilience. Resilience, according to psychologists, is significant because it enables us to remain calm under pressure, adjust when our circumstances change, and maintain our focus on long-term objectives—all of which are essential for success. We have the courage to accept additional risks when we know that we have improved our resilience.

Failure Increases Creativity

Before starting a profitable business, the average entrepreneur fails 3.8 times. You are compelled to use your creativity when you fail. What am I referring to here? For instance, hardly many people are aware that YouTube was once a failing dating service.

The original concept was for people to film and submit videos of themselves discussing the ideal spouse; however, it was so unpopular that the men who came up with the concept were unable to pay users to remain on the platform. They had to start over and use their creativity after this catastrophic setback. They eventually came up with the concept to eliminate the restriction and let people upload videos on whatever they desired, and as a result, the YouTube that we know and love today was created.

The creators were pushed to come up with an innovative approach to turn things around after this significant painful failure. Life always includes some level of failure. Everyone runs into it occasionally. While some mistakes are only small roadblocks, others might have serious repercussions.

Conclusion

You must learn to accept failure if you want to achieve big in this world. Understand that failure is a vital type of feedback that encourages you to think creatively and, at the same time, aids in the development of resilience. Tony Robbins once said, “When you succeed, you party; when you fail, you ponder, and all great things come from pondering.”