“Failure” Is The Road To Success

The voices that trip us up

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

The word “failure” doesn’t tell us much by itself.

It means different things to different people in different situations. The ways we define it will influence our feelings about ourselves.

Think of the word “fail.” Is it more of a screw-up, an error, a slip on the banana peel of life? Or is it so serious that it threatens the world as we know it?

These differences are important because they influence how we accept our imperfect selves.

Why is it important?

• Failure is inevitable. So we better get used to it.
• The way we feel about ourselves when we try new things will actually influence the process of learning
• As successes and failures pile up, they are powerful determinants of self esteem and confidence.

“Failure” is a voice we carry inside

• Think of everything you’ve learned. You didn’t go from 0–100 in one try.
• On a graph, your progress probably looked like a “saw toothed profile.” A few spikes of success, then a sharp decrease, then another increase, and another decrease. But this decrease isn’t as sharp as the last one.