What can failure offer to me when I just obliterated my final, or the boy I asked out said no, or when a research project is due and I am now just starting and looking through Google for articles and answers on why failure is necessary, especially in a post high school setting, at 1:05 AM? As we are becoming soons-to-be-graduates, what can it do for us in life? While researching this an hour ago, surprisingly, I found that failing could be a positive thing. I might as well end the research here already, but we still need about two more answers to pass. So how do we fail successfully?
In high school: failing to make the basketball team, or to turn in late homework from six months ago, or to being late because your car battery decided to not work the day of rehearsal, we are offered multiple chances to no chance at all. We are allowed the opportunity to succeed once more during those unfortunate, yet evident times. However, in the cold, harsh winters of life, you are forced to be independent. Responsibilities and time-consuming efforts appear for you in order to survive the reality of the real world. Sometimes, too much of it makes you stumble, fall, and maybe break a hip. It will dawn on you that life is tough and that you can fail at almost anything and there are no do-overs. And now you have a broken hip.
But it is not the end for you and your figuratively broken hip. I found that in William Arruda’s Forbes article, “Why Failure Is Essential To Success”, he states that embracing failure allows us to learn that it is not a setback. From applying to a job to playing a sport, those allow us to fail and learn and try again. Failing becomes something you can succeed from because of its power to improve our resilience in trying. But maybe, we haven’t failed enough to realize that. We want to give up as soon as the task at hand seems too hard to overcome. However, limiting ourselves impedes our abilities to make big goals in our lives. If we want to improve our mental and physical well-beings in the future, failing is the start of it all. Maybe, what you fail in high school could be a small lesson to help you progress forward and be better prepared for what life barbarically throws at you.
In J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech, she talks about her revelation of failure: "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default." Influential people such as J.K. Rowling, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg, and more have failed a tremendous amount of times. But they never stopped. Their crowned achievements come from not being afraid to fail. To me, failure is simply a blessing in disguise, no matter how big or small as it lets us analyze our mistakes and be knowledgeable next time if we ever attempt again. It is always a lesson we can use to succeed as it not only defines our ability to keep moving forward, but our reflection of who we are to have the strength to get up and be an improved person everyday.
Go take risks. Fail as you please and do with what you will learn from it. Because without it, you can never understand the joys of risks, redemption, and the beauty of failing successfully.
Kevin DaJay
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHGqp8lz36c
www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2015/05/14/why-failure-is-essential-to-success/#10e670ae7923
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/15-highly-successful-people-who-failed-their-way-success.html
I myself take failures to heart and it consumes me. I become upset that I wasn't able to successfully complete something or sad that something I originally thought would work out did not.However, I agree that it's best for us to learn from these mistakes and failures to help us grown mentally. We need to take a positive from the negative, and use these failures to improve ourselves.
ReplyDeleteKrystal Jamjampour
DeleteFailure is definitely no the end of it, there are lessons to be learned because them. I agree that taking risks is a person's choice and that it's on them to learn from the experience.
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ReplyDeleteFailure is honestly a wake up call. It spmakes you stronger and more aware of what should be expected next time. Failure is tough but allows you to become strong if you keep moving and working hard.
ReplyDeleteFailure isn’t always a bad, It’s always a stepping stone to new ideas and paths . I agree with failing is a start to it all, because if you don’t fail in something you will never know the true meaning of hard work and dedication is. You learn from those mistakes and make better choices and make a better you.
ReplyDeleteI really like your reference to Spielberg. Your experiences in failure are very true and personal, and your views are respectable. I myself find failure as part of the process of anything, in everything we say or do there is some sort of failure in it. But failure is the first step into success.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness Kevin this was so good!! I absolutely love how you had made it about learning from your failures and applying. SIS YOU SMATCHED THIS ASSIGNMENT!!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you mention the failures of many people who are household names. It really emphasizes the fact that failure is not an end all be all.
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