In life, you are either winning or losing. Wrong! You are either winning or you are learning. Or should we say winning and learning? Which one do you prefer? The fear of failure probably has been ingrained in you since you were a child. If someone would ask presumably you would say that making mistakes is ok. But if you are honest you rather see someone else fail than yourself. But what does success teach you? What if we state that making mistakes is better for you in the long run?
Carol Dweck, known from the fixed versus growth mindset, says: “we made a huge mistake in our child-rearing practices, in our educational system. We tell kids they should feel good when things were easy for them and they got everything right. That’s a cause for celebration. I think it means you’re not learning as much as you could. If it was easy, well, you probably already knew how to do it. We should make kids feel cheated if the work is too easy for them, or if the teachers gloss over their errors and don’t give them good feedback. We should have kids asking for harder work, wanting the challenging problems. I want challenge to become the new comfort zone, not easy being the comfort zone.”
Think about it. When did you learn the quickest? Probably this was preceded with a big mistake. Mistakes mean you are doing something. They are an example of progress. If you make no mistakes you are in your comfort zone: not going forward. So instead…be in the arena! Would it not be great if we could all be just as enthusiastic about failures as succeeding? What is the worst thing that can happen? The biggest mistake you could make is being too afraid to make one. If you want to grow you need to get over that fear.
However. Making mistakes in one thing. How you react is second. Very important in how the experience contributes to your development. In the infographic underneath, you will find 16 common reactions to failure.
Ready for your next mistake?
Would you like to read more about why you need to fail?
