Ah, the age-old adage of āembracing failure.ā As I often find myself diving deep into these profound topics, a recent conversation with a budding entrepreneur brought this notion to the forefront yet again.
We sat over a cup of coffee, and she confided her fear of failing with her startup. Itās the kind of sentiment I hear all too often, but this time, it struck a different chord. Maybe it was the intensity in her eyes or perhaps the weight of her words. Either way, it got me thinking: Why do we even perceive failure as this monstrous beast lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce?
This train of thought reminded me of a quote by Thomas Edison:
I have not failed. Iāve just found 10,000 ways that wonāt work.
The crux here is the word āwonāt work.ā Edison didnāt see these 10,000 attempts as individual failures but as integral steps on the path to his eventual success. If the invention of the lightbulb, something that revolutionized the world, stemmed from a string of āfailures,ā then surely failure is not the end but a pivotal part of the process.
Indeed, if we dissect any success story, weāll find a common thread: a series of missteps, misjudgments, and miscalculations. But, itās these very moments, these āfailures,ā that pave the way to success.
So, the realization? Itās simple yet profound. Success isnāt just intertwined with failure; itās birthed from it. In a world where weāre so averse to setbacks, maybe itās time we reframe our perspective. See, failure isnāt the bitter pill we have to swallow; itās the secret sauce.
And for all those out there dreading their next misstep, hereās my two cents (and remember, Iām no life coach): Itās not about avoiding the pitfalls ā itās about diving right into them, knowing that success is waiting on the other side. And donāt forget: For this to happen we need to learn from our failuresāas failing for the sake of failing is just that: Failing.