Lessons Failure Teaches You – Part II
4. Failure Allows You to Try Again with New Information
The reason you failed is because you didn’t have enough information, enough skills, and enough insight.
Believe it or not, you’re in a way better position to conquer this challenge now, than your competitors or even yourself before getting started. You now have data to work with, maybe you invested some time or even capital resources into a project, but in return you got wisdom, and wisdom is expensive so don’t let it be a waste!
Use everything you now know and try again!
5. You Can Still Fail at Everything and Still Win Big
Here’s where things get super interesting. You can go from failure to failure and end up winning. We know how counterintuitive this might sound, but it’s the difference between winning a battle versus winning the war. Life is a lot easier than war, because generally speaking, you don’t die after pursuing a goal, which is nice!
Jokes aside, but this idea that you can fail at something which in turn pushes you towards something else, just like a game of pinball, shooting from failure to failure until you finally land on something that’s extraordinary for you.
All you have to do, is: Keep on failing at different things.
And you’ll notice life pushing you closer and closer to what you’re actually looking for. There’s actually a phenomenal book titled: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. It’s one of those books you don’t hear about much, but it offers a very valuable perspective in life. We strongly recommend it to anyone who doesn’t feel like they found “THEIR THING” yet.
6. Others Don’t Care about Your Failures as Much as You Think
One of the things that scares people the most about the possibility of failure, is how others will react. We’re all scared that we will make a fool of ourselves, that others will see our vulnerabilities and might even take jabs at us while we’re down.
This is why most people never try anything, they’re too scared of what other people will think or say.
“Speaking as someone who’s failed multiple times: NOBODY CARES!”
Up to a point where it’s a bit frustrating. You’d think more people would react in some way, but they’re not. You know why? They’re too busy dealing with their own stuff!
This used to matter when you were a kid, when you were in high school or younger, but as an adult, we’re all just trying to keep ourselves afloat while putting together a boat for ourselves.
7. Failure Shines a Light on Your Weaknesses
And this is more valuable than you think. You failed because something didn’t go right, something didn’t go as plan, and you simply weren’t enough at this point to make it happen. Once the event is over and you understand that you have indeed failed, you can take a step back and look at what happened. Like a rewind or a post mortem for the whole event.
- How did you prepare for this challenge?
- What did you miss?
- What would’ve made a difference?
- What are those things that you could’ve done to prevent the failure?
While going through these questions, you’ll find that there are some weaknesses in your strategy or in your approach. Now you know what you’re missing!
“Either learn them or find someone whose strengths can cover up for your weaknesses!”
See also: Part III
