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Introduction
We have so many negative connotations about the word “failure.” Anyone who has given himself or herself this label has struggled to find something good out of it. It is difficult for most of us to find our way forward when we think that we don’t add up to much.
How can failure make you stronger? The author of this sample essay reflects on the lessons she’s learned from failing.
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How Failure Makes You Stronger
The earliest experience of failure that I can remember takes me back to first grade. I was studying hard for my next test in spelling because I didn’t get a good grade on the last exam. I pored through the list of words to review and spent long hours after school memorizing them. I even asked for my older sister’s help to quiz me the night before the test.
On the day of the exam, I was confident that I would be able to ace the exam. But then, I was taken by surprise when our teacher announced the exam would be in the form of oral recitation. We would have to spell out the words in front of the entire class. I have always been an introvert, so facing a group is quite intimidating for me. When it was my turn, I was given one of the easier words to spell. But because I was so daunted by so many faces staring at me, I fumbled and made mistakes until the end.
I remember my face feeling hot in shame when my classmates started laughing at me. Right then and there, I felt like a complete failure, especially after all the hard work I had put in to do well. Fortunately, I managed to recover and still pass the exam, but it didn’t shake the feeling I had from the first round. I felt like a laughingstock and I felt like I was not good enough. No amount of reassurance from my teacher could pacify the negative emotions I felt from making those initial errors.
Valuable Lessons from the Art of Failing
It wasn’t until many years (and many more failures) later that I realized that what I thought was the worst thing to ever happen to me was a blessing in disguise. There is something about a failed attempt that makes a person stronger and better. In this essay, I want to share with you some principles about failure that I’ve learned over the years.
Failure and success are a matter of perspective
The hard reality is that we all have our unique definitions of failure and success. What is unsuccessful to you may seem like a good thing to others. What you deem to be a win may be a loss for some. The problem with our perspective on failure is that we seem to perceive it as an end-all-be-all. If we fail, it would be close to impossible to get back on track.
At the same time, we see it as part of our identity. If we were unsuccessful at something after we worked hard for it, then we must not be good enough as a person. If we backed out of an opportunity because of fear, we dismiss or invalidate our feelings and call ourselves worthless cowards.
What if we viewed failure as an opportunity? What if, instead of seeing a dead-end, we see possibility? Yes, it is important to acknowledge our disappointment when something doesn’t work. And it is valid to feel responsible for the part we played in it. But if that’s the only truth we choose to recognize, we rob ourselves of the chance to see how our mistake might even place us on the right path. You may have failed multiple times, but you have the rest of your life to succeed multiple times.
Failure is a course correction toward success
As previously mentioned, failure does not have to be a dead-end. We always have the chance to turn things around and turn a bad thing into a successful endeavor. We just have to be willing to look hard enough to spot the opportunity ahead and make the right choice moving forward.
It is understandable that a huge error can affect the way we see our immediate next steps. It is easier to walk away from a hard thing. But once we remind ourselves that the journey has not ended and that this is an important part of the path to the future we want to achieve, then it is easier to believe that the struggle will always be worth the cost. Failure dies in the presence of purpose. Remind yourself why you are on the path you chose, and lean into that purpose to get back on your feet and start again.
Success starts with the mindset and attitude you decide to take
There are two crucial elements that make the best starting point to your destination: mindset and attitude. You can work harder all you like, but without these two elements, your hard work will not get you anywhere satisfying. In the same way that we need to have the right mental and emotional framework for failure, we need to have the same approach for success.
Failure can strengthen a person by making him or her realize the unhealthy patterns he brought with him into the mistakes he made. This is made possible by hindsight. When we have the capacity to look back at a failed past with clarity, then we recognize what went wrong and how we can rectify that moving forward. It will lead us to reset our minds and emotions, and channel our reflections toward a more prepared future.
Conclusion: Failure is part of achieving success
Ask any of the most admirable people that you know and they will tell you that they would not have made it to where they are without having failed multiple times.
The person that you are today is the sum total of all your decisions, good or bad. This means that even the times you fail shape you into an upgraded version of yourself that knows better and does better.
Failure Is The Key To Success Essay (Short Essay Sample)
Every day, we work hard thinking that our effort should always justify the outcome. However, this is not always the case. When things don’t go as planned and we end up failing, we become afraid to try again.
I want to remind us, students, that failures are not only part of life, but they are an important part of pursuing a successful future. The gift of hindsight allows us to review these negative outcomes, arming us with the knowledge that we need to succeed in the next attempt. Without experiencing failure, we would always be tempted to take the easy way to the desired win. But what lessons would we learn then if we didn’t struggle?
Our journey to a great tomorrow will always be imperfect. There is no smooth road to a dream destination, We need to accept that part of learning and doing better is sometimes to fail first. Given this, it is important for us to know how to fail well – not being defined by it, but challenged to turn things around and look for the opportunity behind the disappointment. It’s just a matter of worldview.
FAQs
Does Failure Build Character?
One of the things that we need to realize about being unsuccessful is that when we view it from a place of fear, it then becomes a believable facade that we can never try again. Some people who are especially traumatized may come to believe that no matter how many times they try, they will never win. They see it as a sign of their inadequacy.
The truth is that when we learn to view a loss from a place of optimism, then a world of possibilities opens itself up to us – and we are able to see a new endpoint from where we stand. We then bring principles from the past and apply them to our present, refining our character and motivating us to achieve our goals.
Why Is Failure The Greatest Teacher?
There is a reason why victory is not said to be the greatest teacher. Losing gives us more insight into ourselves than winning. When we don’t get what we want, and when we are placed in situations that we cannot control, we are forced to confront our innermost feelings and struggles. When we embrace this tension and surrender ourselves to the process of facing our failures, then we allow them to invite us into a world of revelations – about ourselves, the people that we relate with, and about our lives. It helps us stay the course by showing us what crucial decisions we made in the past that led to our mistakes.