Note:  I got the idea for this article from Mark Foo, who suggests that you read the book Success Is Never Ending, Failure Is Never Final by Robert Schuller.

Success and Failure

Bad Stigma!

The word “failure” is such a strong word.  It immediately conjures up images of seriousness and conclusiveness.  So starting immediately, I am eliminating the word “failure” and all of it’s derivatives from my personal vocabulary, and I strongly encourage you to do the same thing!

The word “failure” has such a strong connotation and a feeling of “ultimateness” to it.  When someone says that they have failed, it’s almost as if they are saying that they have been unsuccessful in their goal, and now they are feeling sorry for themselves.  They tried, and they failed, and now there’s nothing they can do about it.  They have to live with their failure, and move on to something else.  This, in a word, is WRONG.

Feedback, Not Failure!

To a person who creates their own success, “failure” is nothing more than feedback.  You simply try something, and if it works, you continue to do it.  If it doesn’t work, you learn from it and move on.  Calling an unsuccessful goal “feedback” is a much healthier approach than calling it “failure”.  You learn from your mistakes instead of feel sorry about them.  You pick yourself up and try again, with an improved strategy instead of allow your damaged ego to deter you from learning from your mistakes.

Fear of failure is a very prevalent fear among the human race, which is tragic.  Why are we, as people, so afraid to be unsuccessful at things that we attempt?  Do we honestly expect ourselves to achieve perfection without practice or training?  If I know nothing about making a pizza, am I going to expect myself to go into the kitchen and whip out a gourmet pizza pie all by myself on the very first attempt?  So when the crust comes back too soft, due to being undercooked, or the sauce tastes bland and uninspired, am I going to throw up my arms and say “I have failed” and never make another pizza again because of that experience?  Hell no!

We Learn Through Trial And Error

We, as human beings, have acquired the entirety of collective knowledge through trial and error.  We learned what foods were tasty and nutritious for us by tasting the nasty and poisonous ones.  We learned how to take care of our bodies by doing the opposite of what makes up unhealthy.  We crafted our science and all of the benefits from it by failing a thousand times before finally being successful.  In other words, we have learned everything we know through “failure”.  So why do people think that “failure” is a bad thing?

I think that these are all things that we all allready knew.  You already knew that trial and error is a good thing before you came to this web page.  Identifying that the word “failure” is an ugly word, and shouldn’t be used is nothing new.  There are already books and internet articles written on this subject, but I have yet to hear of any plan to actually do something about it!

Failure Is The New “F-Word”

So here’s my proposed solution.  Let’s make the word “failure” politically incorrect.  Failure is the new “F-Word”.  I want you to get offended if you hear other people say it, and explain to them why it offends you.  I pledge to eliminate the word “failure” from my vocabulary, and I encourage you to do the same.  I pledge to encourage the people around me to eliminate the word “failure” from their vocabulary, and I encourage you to do the same.

Maybe if we stop calling our feedback “failure”, then we will start to overcome our fear of it.  And overcoming our fear of it is a step that so many of us desperatley need to take!  We are at a day and age where we are interconnected through digital and physical means, doing a wide varierty of diverse jobs, and working shifts at all hours of the day.  We, as a species, should be prospering now, instead of declining into another depression.  We need to pull ourselves out of the mud and stop being afraid to be great.

Remember, “failure is the new f-word”