A “failure” is an experience, not a label.
You can fail a task, but that failure — or even the buildup of failures over time — does not make you a failure. I believe no one fits the definition of failure as “one who has failed.”
Failure is often relative, of course. What you may see as a failure, I may see as a success.
Let’s say, for example, that I have never passed a science exam and you have always passed the same science exams with high marks. While I might view getting a “C” as a success, you would likely view it as a failure.
Since it’s exam week, you’re probably squirming at the use of “exam” and “failure” in the same paragraph. I think that’s exactly why this topic is so important to consider. Though the risk of failure is frightening, risks are necessary.
I’m not encouraging you to “risk” not preparing for an exam or “risk” disruptive behavior, but to recognize that failure is, in the long run, a beneficial experience. If you avoid everything where you risk failure, you will not reach your full potential.
Almost everything has a risk of failure. Job interviews risk rejection. Contests risk losing. Purchases risk damage.
Avoidance of these “risks” will condemn you to unemployment and residency in your parents’ basement. The fact that you are here, at college, indicates that you risked rejection at a college application or job interview.
The risk of failure is necessary, ironically, to avoid fitting the societal image of “a failure.”
If you’re going to have to risk failure anyway, why not take bigger risks? Apply to that competitive job you’ve had your eye on for years. Submit to that contest you’ve always wanted to win. Rent that apartment you hoped to inhabit.
And if you fail? Learn from it.
Failure builds character. That’s why I contend continuous failed efforts do not make you a failure; it means you have the strength to bounce back despite your fall. One day, you may bounce higher than you fell.
Many people viewed as successful struggled with failure when they began their search for success. Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for his lack of imagination and ended several businesses in bankruptcy. Famous writers such as J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) received many rejection letters before their books were finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime.
Evidently, cases of failure do not make an individual unqualified for success.
Failure can also lead you in the direction you were meant to go. Vera Wang was once a competitive figure skater, but when she failed to make the Olympic team, she pursued a career in fashion. Former president Harry Truman failed to raise his family farm out of debt, initially failed to win the hand of the woman he loved and failed a business venture in men’s clothing before finding his calling in the political sphere.
As I write this editorial, I’m reminded of a scene from the Disney film “Meet the Robinsons” where the main character is upset when one of his inventions fails, but the Robinson family congratulates him on his failure. Another character explains, “From failing you learn. From success, not so much!”
Though we should always strive for success, failure should not humiliate us as intensely as it does, since everyone fails and we learn through our failures.
Most importantly, failing does not make you a failure. Keep this in mind when you see your exam grades.
