Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Relentless Pursuits: How Failure Can Actually Make Us Better
ProSoundWeb: When bringing a new venture to market, some people look at all of the challenges that stand in their way instead of looking for the solutions that may be discovered on the road ahead. They beat themselves out of the race before they have a chance to succeed.
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I definitely think there is a point to be said about learning from mistakes and growing from them. With all the Elon Musk references in this article, it reminds me of another Elon Musk anecdote that I was told about in one of my entrepreneurship classes. One of the questions Musk’s asks to any potential employee in their interview is “When have you failed and how did you overcome it?”. He says he likes this question because it’s how he can really see people’s growth and how they think and process as they talk about turning a failure into something better. I think failures are the first step in getting that much closer to your goal, and because of this, failures shouldn’t be seen as something that is always negative. Yes, ultimately we all want to be successful the first time around, especially in times where the margin of error has to be small, but the growth that can be made from each failure has the opportunity to open 10 more ideas, 10 more innovations, 10 more ways to improve and get better. Failures can be defeating in the moment, but it’s about what you do after that that matters.
I’ve heard people say that ‘failure is not the opposite of success’ plenty of times but it’s often hard to believe it in the moment. When you’ve tried to dpo something or worked so hard on a project only for it to go South really puts a damper on the spirit, and it’s hard to collect yourself sometimes and think “what did I learn from this’ rather than ‘this taught me I can’t do anything.’ While I’m not a big fan of Elon Musk, the article does make a good point about staying on course and not letting roadblocks deter you. Things not going well the first time means that you can learn more from the experience and probably do even better than you might have if it had worked originally. I think the reason why it can be so hard to face failure sometimes is that a lot of our culture revolves around juxtaposing successes and failures. The word ‘failure’ itself carries a lot of negative weight and we get too worried about that defining us. I know that for myself, I’ve sometimes been too afraid of failing something I wanted to attempt that I just never started it at all, because at the time I thought that not doing it was better than trying and having it end in disaster. Allowing myself to make mistakes and fail sometimes is something I have been trying to get better at.
If you’re a perfectionist, it’s hard to have the “failure is a good thing” thing attitude when you mess up. It gets to the point where you are so afraid of trying because to the fear of failure that you procrastinate your work or never start projects. I think what needs to be done is to redefine what failure means from a young age. Sarah Blakey, the CEO of Spanx and first female billionaire, grew up with her dad asking her what she failed at that day during dinner every night. This helped her see failure as a positive thing that helps you improve and a necessary step to success. I won’t go into detail about her story but it definitely helped her to be persistent for years when her product wasn’t doing well. When your ideas are met with doubt and resistance it’s easy to just move on, but it can pay off immensely if you exercise grit and keep working through the “failures”.
I chose to comment on this article because my aunt is a very successful corporate psychologist
who really, really believes and advocates for failure. When I was unsure about being in theatre, because I really thought I was terrible at it, my aunt would encourage me to keep going, and encourage me to fail along the way. There are so many great quotes from successful people who speak about the importance of failing and how it helps you grow. In fact, I learned the most about who I am as a person and a theatre artist when I look back at the times I failed and kept going, not the times that I worked without issue. It can be very hard to radically accept your failures, but it keeps you learning and pushes you to become better than you were before you failed. And, being a recovering perfectionist myself, you have to remember not to take yourself out of the race before you have the chance to succeed, as the article says. It is hard to be compassionate towards yourself in such an intimate industry, but if you allow yourself the room to fail and learn from it, it will help you become a better artist.
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