5 Reasons Why We Should Never Avoid Failure

Sharon Moore April 07, 2015

When it comes to advising a friend or loved one about failure, we used to say, it is okay to fail. And that when we fail, we really don’t lose, we just learn. But things are easier said than done. All of us have experienced the pain of failure, and it feels so traumatising that we no longer want to experience it again.

But then again, there are plenty of good reasons why we should never avoid failure. And here are some of them:

Failure makes us stronger.

Failure is an effective way of strengthening our resilience. With success, people simply choose to keep doing what they are doing. With failure, however, we are forced to adapt and change. We begin to question what went wrong, and identify areas of improvement. We are forced to look for answers, change our old ways, and make things right. Painful as it is, failure makes us braver, fiercer and better.

Failure sets us free.

Failing reminds us that humans as we are, we are not invincible, neither we are perfect. By accepting failure, you are liberating yourself from the false notion of perfectionism. You can go out not fearing the need to look and act the way people expect you to.

Failures often lead to dramatic successes.

Thomas Edison would have not invented the incandescent light bulb without him failing many times. Some of the greatest culinary creations, like the brownies, resulted from a failure to use a leavening ingredient. Often, our mistakes are actually the gateway to our success. And it’s not just a small success. Many times, it is a life-changing success. Failure helps us become more creative, explore the world around us, consider other options, break the rules, innovate, and steer clear from the conventional, which all could lead to much greater things. As Elon Musk puts it, "If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough”.

Failure brings us priceless lessons.

If you never failed, you never learned. In school, learning is measured by the good grades we receive. But try to remember the mathematic equations you easily followed in your 6^th grade, as well as those you really had a hard time with. Isn’t it surprising that we tend to remember our failures more than our achievements? Failure can be really painful. But it is not meant to hurt us or break us. Failure is meant to expand our knowledge, understanding and perception. Often, the lessons we learn from failure are priceless. It gives us an opportunity to learn from our mistaken actions and do what’s right next time.

Failure is a remarkable test of character.

Do you get fiery as hell whenever you commit mistakes? Or are you like a sand that easily crumbles? Do you choose to pick yourself and move on from failure? Or do you let yourself get carried away and stay stuck? When people fail, they begin to show their true selves. Failure is like a character test. It makes us identify our strengths and weaknesses. It helps us know ourselves better.

We live in a society wherein we are all but required to focus on just one thing: success. But success is not possible without failure. Failure only becomes ‘failure’ when we refuse to get up, dust ourselves off, and get back in the game. We don’t have to avoid failures, or take it negatively. We simply have to build on the lessons learned, and move forward.