Embracing and learning from failure 

We live in a very performative world where it’s easy to feel like our every action is being scrutinised and where social media and the general online environment give us more and more opportunities to compare ourselves with other people. We also live in a very high-productivity culture where it can often feel important to be excelling in everything from our career choices to our skincare routines. In the midst of this, we often lose sight of the value of failure. 

In this month’s translation industry updates, we’ll be looking at how we can embrace failure and use it to help us move forward more purposefully and confidently. 

First of all, the most important thing to be aware of is that failure is an inevitable and in many ways necessary part of life. If we try to live a life free of failure then by definition we are existing within narrow limitations with no possibility to break out of our comfort zone. It’s only by failing along the way that we can ultimately discover what we’re really capable of. 

Secondly, failure is humbling. Failure can make us more aware of our own limitations and in doing so can help us to either identify areas that we can improve on or find more realistic and achievable ways of accomplishing a certain goal. Additionally, in failing ourselves we become more understanding of other people’s trials and failures, more admiring of people who have the courage to try, and less judgemental of those who fail. 

Failure also teaches us to be resilient and encourages innovation and creativity. Thomas Edison was apparently told by school teachers that he was ‘too stupid to learn anything’, but legend has it that after trying and failing 1,000 times he succeeded in inventing the light bulb, and he credited the failed prototypes as being an essential part of his road to success. Failure can often help us to redefine our ideas and encourage us to think more widely by pointing us in different directions that we may not have previously thought about. In the words of Kristen Logan of IBX Insights, what we learn from failure is often more important than what we learn from success

Lastly, failure can teach us to be accepting of situations and to know where our own limits are. Even if, in the worst case scenario, our failure teaches us that our goal is simply not achievable for us, at least we can make that decision from a position of having tried, and shift our expectations accordingly. For example, most of us will never be concert pianists but we can still strive to make beautiful music and that’s still a worthwhile goal to work towards. Even if we fail in our ultimate aim we can still take comfort in the fact that we’ve given it a shot, and we can then refocus our efforts on achieving a more scaled-down and manageable version of our objectives.  

With all of the above thoughts in mind, we’ll wrap up with a few tips around embracing failure. 

Firstly and most importantly of all, be accepting of the fact that at some point or another, we all fail. Try not to take failure personally, but rather see it as a way to reflect on a situation objectively and identify means of improvement. Never let the fear of failure discourage you from trying things, and try to be understanding with yourself and with other people whenever you or they fail. 

Try to be reflective without ruminating on failure, and always look for any learning points that you can carry forward with you for future situations. Be mindful of the idea that although we cannot necessarily always accomplish all of our goals, we can still use failure to help us to identify how we can go some way towards achieving them in a way that is still meaningful and rewarding for us. Failure can also help us to identify new avenues to explore, which might not have been the case if we had succeeded immediately. 

Remember times when you’ve been successful in the past, particularly in the face of previous failure or other adversity, and use these memories as a morale boost and to prove to yourself that you have been able to show resilience in the face of obstacles in previous situations.

And lastly, give yourself breaks and be realistic about how long things are likely to take you. Whether you’re learning a new language or saving up for a holiday, often success doesn’t come easily but in many cases persistence is more effective in the long run than raw talent alone. 

That wraps up this month’s mindfulness and wellbeing updates, but we’d love to hear your tips for leaning into failure so if you have any ideas that we haven’t mentioned in the article then please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments.

Whatever you’re chipping away at, stay mindful and don’t stop trying! We wish you the best in everything you’re trying to achieve, and look forward to seeing you again for next month’s updates. 

Sources

Kristen Logan | IBX Insights

Failure: Friend or Foe?

https://insights.ibx.com/failure-friend-or-foe 

Science Museum

Electrifying: The story of lighting our homes

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/everyday-wonders/electric-lighting-home