Failure Teaches You to Work Harder

Our greatest glory is not in falling, but in rising every time we fall. - Rocky Balboa, Rocky

Today failure is so much undervalued that people have stopped even talking about it. Instead, they are running blind in the direction of success, trying to imitate others' success, forgetting the successful person had their share of failures.

Kids receive participation trophies instead of learning the value of failure. This prevents kids from facing failures and inadvertently, does not allow them to improve themselves and better their losses.

I don't understand why people are so afraid to talk about failure in life. Failure teaches you not to take anything for granted and makes you grounded. It teaches resilience. It shapes you as a person. And a stronger relationship with failure allows you to be close to your success.

Why Isn't Failure Appreciated?

In a general sense, failure is discouraged because it brings embarrassment, ruin, depression. But under all these layers, failure can turn out to be life-changing.

The culprit - Social Media

In today's day and age, you are used to seeing people's picture-perfect (literally) lives on social media. This illusion is the reason you are discouraged every time you face a failure. Every time you don't reach your goals and then compare yourself with social media, you feel like a failure.

• You want to lose weight; you see people with bodies on social media as if carved by Michelangelo himself. You think that you can never look like that and give up on your goals.
• You want to create a personal brand; you see people with a plethora of followers and feel that you can never reach that number and give up.
• You want to start an online business; you see people making more money than you, and you get discouraged.

Remember, there are people who order products to look good pictures on social media and then return them because they can't really afford them.

Don't judge yourself based on what you see on social media. It is fake (mostly). But there are genuine people on social media as well to take inspiration from, like Gary Vaynerchuk, Jay Shetty, etc.

The Lessons We Learn From Failure

There are many things you can learn from a failed attempt. Failures can be the stepping stone for your future success. You just need to have an open mind to analyze your failures correctly.

Failure teaches "the don't"

To have a better perspective on reaching your goals, the more important thing to know is what not to do. Failure teaches you that. Whenever you undertake a task and fail in the process, you know what not to do when you try the same task next time.

During my bachelor studies' final year, I applied for jobs to companies coming to campus. Sometimes I was rejected by my resume, sometimes in the aptitude round and a few times in the interviews. This went on for a couple of months. After each company's visit and rejection of me, I would note down what I did wrong and what are the things that I can improve.

I incorporated all those things in my profile and applied for five companies off-campus. I got called for an interview in 3 of them and secured an internship in 2.

Failure didn't tie me down. I didn't let it make me feel worthless. Instead, I looked at it from a perspective of what not to do and succeeded in getting a job.

Failure allows you to know yourself better

Every time you try and do something uncertain, there are high chances of not succeeding on the first try and fail. But there is something hidden underneath this failure. This failure can teach you whether you are capable of doing the task you undertook. It is entirely possible that your skills and the task don't sync. Failure will allow you the opportunity to recognize it.

I always wanted to sing and play an instrument as a kid. I didn't get any opportunity until I started college. I bought a guitar and practiced. I sang alongside.

After some practice, I entered the college's singing competition. I crashed and burned there. It turns out I am not as good a singer as I thought. Although, I can play the guitar very well. So, I left singing after this failure but continued to play the guitar.

Failure provides you a reality check

If you have never faced failure in life, you will probably feel invincible like a storm. Failure will slap you in the face with a reality check, ensuring that you don't have control over everything.

I faced this in my first semester of graduation. I came to Germany to pursue a Master's. When the results of the first semester exams came out, turns out I failed a course. It was the first time in my academic life that I had failed a class. It showed me gaps in my preparation for the exams, making me realize that my exam preparation system is not as foolproof as I thought it to be.

Failure builds courage

Dealing with failure is a courageous task in itself. This courage will allow you to get back up after defeat. You don't know about your capabilities entirely unless you face failure, get back up, try again, and achieve success.

The course that I failed in my first semester of Master's had me lying flat face on the ground. I promised myself to get back up and reverse this failure. Sure enough, I did, and that too in two ways:

1. I scored an outstanding grade in the course on my 2nd attempt.
2. Next semester, I became a tutor for the course.

After becoming the tutor, the failure came full circle.

Failure teaches you the value of everything

Humans tend to take things for granted. Failure to love a person comes to bite back when you lose that person. This is applicable if that person is not anymore in the world or your life.

Failure to care about your expenses will teach you the value of money when you don't have it anymore.

Final Thoughts

Acknowledge your mistakes, recognize the things that went wrong. Become more robust and resilient. Mistakes are meant to be made but not to be repeated. Appreciate Failure; embrace it.

Don't get sucked into the illusion of social media by comparing yourself to others. Instead, make your own definition of success.

Have an eventful life!

Thank you for reading.