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Is failure bad?

One bad lesson, foisted on us early in life is to fear failure. This is a natural response because to most people failure means not accomplishing your task or reaching your goal- ever. People who don’t reach their goals are automatically classified as failures. Since nobody wants to be a failure, they make decisions about their lives to avoid failure. Because they do not understand that failure is merely a measurement of accomplishment at any point in time and not a static definition, they make a decision to avoid the possibility of failing- and they cripple themselves. In the process. They let fear of failure rule their lives.

Avoiding Failure can cripple you

They chose easy targets or worse, no targets at all. Their goal is negative- to avoid being a failure rather than positive- aiming for an outrageous outcome. They miss entirely that they have handicapped themselves to small accomplishment by protecting themselves from failure.

Fear of failure is crippling.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to succeed. Anything else would be wrong. But most people fail to understand that failure is how we learn to succeed and without failure success is impossible.  Still, you ask, how can failure be good?   How can failure ever lead me to success? There are two ways that fear of failure can cripple you:   (1) By causing you to set lower goals or (2) worse setting no goals which leaves you stuck with whatever life throws your way.

It is easy to avoid failure. Do noting. But before you take that path, ask yourself how you learned what you already know. Did you always know how to walk? Talk? Did you accomplish those feats with no mistakes or failures? Babies fall down hundreds of times before they master the ability to stand and walk. But we don’t call our babies failures each time they fall. We encourage them to try again and praise them for their progress. Why can’t we be as generous to ourselves?

Or you can avoid failure by setting easy goals that you know you can accomplish. Because you don’t need to push yourself, you don’t make much effort either. You avoid failing but you also stop growing.

Move forward and embrace failure enthusiastically

Bottom line, I believe you need to keep your life  about moving forward. The day you stop learning and striving for higher levels of mastery and accomplishment is they day you die. And you can die mentally and spiritually while your body continues to function. When you fear failure you stop the growing process