Turning Failure into Success
Written by: Aurelia Budiman
The concept of failure is seen in a negative light, which isn’t surprising as the general meaning of the term itself refers to “a lack of success in doing something” (Cambridge, 2024). The framing of this term creates a negative mindset where individuals feel compelled to avoid it at all costs, fearing the repercussions that it may bring, such as damage to their self-esteem and reputation. However, the reframing of failure as a way to achieve growth and learn is important in order to achieve success.
By embracing failure as a key to success, individuals have the opportunity to cultivate resilience and determination by persisting in the face of setbacks. According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, resilient individuals are more likely to view failure as a form of helpful feedback (Coutu, 2002). With this mindset, individuals get to extract valuable lessons from their personal experiences, allowing them to enhance their skills and knowledge to transform setbacks into stepping stones for success.
Failure also presents the opportunity to make way for creativity and innovation. Individuals who seek perfection leave very little room for error. However, in reality, this mindset refrains them from ideas that may not have come up if it weren’t for their failures, possibly even better ideas than their initial ones. Take Pixar, an animation company responsible for the making of many of our favorite childhood movies. It takes around 12,000 storyboard drawings to make one 90-minute feature, and because of the iterative process, story teams often create more than 125,000 storyboards by the time the film is actually delivered (BBC, 2015). Imagine if they stuck with their initial storyboards; our favorite childhood movies would not be as magical as we know them to be.
Therefore, failure should not be seen as an obstacle to success but rather be embraced as a stepping stone in order to achieve it. It is through overcoming and learning from failure that individuals learn resilience and a creative fostering mindset, which are skills that will help individuals navigate through challenges and setbacks and lead them toward success.
Sources:
Carson, R. (2023, August 7). Success After Failure: a journey of resilience, learning, and growth. Medium. https://medium.com/@ronaldcarson/success-after-failure-a-journey-of-resilience-learning-and-growth-22073d8526
BBC News. (2015, November 14). Viewpoint: How creativity is helped by failure. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34775411.amp
failure. (2024). https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/failure