By Sunny Simon
Remember a time when you missed the mark? You set a goal and for one reason or another, failed to accomplish your dream. When faced with disappointment, our natural tendency is to experience the pain and eventually move on. Often we begin to see it as Shakespeare said “What’s done is done.” Over the years I learned a more positive reaction: pause, reflect and refresh.
By rewinding the experience and processing the outcome, we can find benefits to failure. J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech was titled: “The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination.” Rowling contends she failed on an “epic scale” prior to becoming one of the most well known female authors based on her Harry Potter fantasy series. The author is ranked as number 78 on the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. During her Harvard speech Rowling professed, “It is impossible to live without failing at something.”
The author was intimately friendly with failure. Rowling came to a crossroads in life when her short-lived marriage fell apart, making her a single parent. During that time she was barely surviving at the poverty level and just shy of becoming homeless. Dealing with that very dark period in her life, J.K. turned it around by focusing all her attention on finishing the only work that mattered to her. Rowling used rock bottom as a platform to redesign her life.
Most individuals would agree with Rowling, failing is part of life. There is an upside to dealing with failure as explained by Dr. Charles C. Manz in his book, “The Power of Failure.” Manz contends we must wrap our minds around a new definition. The Chaired Professor of Business Leadership at the University of Massachusetts sees failure as the “short-termed unexpected results reflecting a challenge in progress.” He professes failure provides three positive aspects: “a stepping stone to success, the opportunity for learning and development and an opportunity for creative change and innovation.”
Something about a new spin on the failure concept really appeals to me. Viewing the experience not as an ending but “…a challenge in progress” makes it less of a pitfall and more like a hiccup. By adopting Manz’s premise we can embrace the learning lessons inherent in failure.
During my formative years, my mother, the eternal optimist, consistently doled out positive advice. She chirped in her Pollyanna style, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” Sound familiar? No doubt, you heard that at home too. Thanks to some help from my mom I learned early in life to avoid negative thinking patterns.
Ready to view failure from a different perspective? Next time you hit an obstacle on the path to success, look at it as a mere speed bump, just a temporary detour to the finish line. Change your failure definition, keep focused and remember those four words taught to you as a child…try, try, try again.
