Week 12 – Why Failure Is Not the Opposite of Success

Failure is generally understood to be a negative term. Something to be avoided. Something that holds us back. But what if failure is not actually the opposite of success but actually part of it?

The more we attempt new things, the more we are likely to fail at least somewhat. Whether it is a test, a project, or a new skill to be learned, failure is almost guaranteed. But in those moments of failure is where we actually learn.

Failure helps us to think. It helps us to see what we are doing wrong and to make changes. But without failure, we would never actually learn or challenge ourselves to be better. In fact, many successful people were not successful in spite of failure but because of it.

But another part of failure is actually being able to overcome it. This gives us a different type of self-confidence. It gives us the knowledge that we can overcome any obstacle.

Instead of viewing failure as something to be feared, we can actually begin to see it as a type of feedback. It is not an endpoint but merely part of the process. And sometimes, what we learn from our failure can be more valuable than what we were seeking to achieve by succeeding.

In the end, failure does not define us. What defines us is our response to our failure.