Failing Successfully!
Photo: Andy Dean Photography/ Resource: www.bigstock.com
Winston Churchill once said:
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Well spoken – but hard to do.
Defeat generally is a huge blow to one’s sense of worth. After a defeat, most of us will have trouble to keep going with enthusiasm and energy.
Failure is a question of interpretation
If you set objectives you must accept the risk that you may fail to attain the desired outcome. When this happens, one will call this a Failure, the other simply says to themselves:
Light Bulb of inventor Alva Edison
Photo: artjazz/ resource: www.bigstock.com“My hopes and aspirations did not develop according to my expectations.”
Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the incandescent light bulb, was in the latter category. It took him nearly 2,000 attempts before he was able to get the first carbon filament to glow in a bulb. He is said to have described his failed attempts as follows:
“These were not failures. At least I now know 2,000 ways how not to get a carbon filament to glow.”
Failure is frequently only a matter of interpretation. Situations that are initially perceived as a failure can prove to be a success in the end.
The development of super glue
In 1968, Spencer Silver was involved with the development of a super glue that was expected to be stronger than all known glues. But after an extended development period, the results were rather sobering. The adhesive was easily applied to any surface, but was just as easily removed. Super glue – not! A clear-cut failure at first glance.
Post-Its from 3M
Photo: iko/ Resource: www.bigstock.com
Years later, Arthur Frey, a colleague of Spencer Silver, was irritated by bookmarks that kept falling out of his Music Book. He remembered Spencer’s adhesive and tried it on his music book – and it worked.
He was able to attach the bookmarks and remove them later without any residue, and could then reattach them. The Post-Its from 3M had been invented.
“The road to success is rarely linear!”
I have failed!
The moment of failure is frequently painful. I normally perceive failure as a moment of great powerlessness. Telling myself in that moment:
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Every failure has an upside!”
does not really help.
How to fail successfully!
A few weeks ago I wrote a guest post on Expert Enough about my 10 most important tips how to fail successfully. Here are the headlines:
- Make room for feelings!
- Focus on the failure, not on the person!
- Identify the worst possible outcome!
- Allow yourself to fail!
- Do not fret over your failure!
- Anything meaningful carries risk!
- Avoid excuses and assigning blame!
- What can I learn from this?
- Create some leeway for action!
- What positive can come of this?
You may read the tips in detail on Expert Enough.
What are your tips?
This post first appeared on More-Leadership Bernd Geropp | More Leadership, please read the originial post: here
