Failure.
On its surface, it’s such a heavy word.
But I like to think that it’s heavy not because of any negative implications it has, but because of its powerful ability to drive us towards success.
Just like most things in life, we can’t have ups without downs. For every push, there’s a pull, and success is no different.
But why is it we tend to focus on our successes and not our failures, when they each have so much to teach us about growth?
The simple answer is, it’s our natural instinct.
The longer, less traveled path is learning to properly integrate failure into the process of progress.
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
- Thomas A. Edison
Get Uncomfortable
It’s not very comfortable to put a lot of thought into our failures, which is why we naturally shy away from them.
While the nature of every failure isn’t created equal, there’s value to extract from every time we fall short or do the wrong thing.
If we want to get better, we owe it to ourselves to use our failures to our advantage.
While successes keep us motivated and moving, learning from and applying our failures calibrates our compasses for progression and allows us to move faster and more efficiently.
The first step, and paradoxically, the only step, in all of this is to get comfortable with making yourself uncomfortable.
If you can accept this premise, success will start to come naturally.
Don’t Just Fail. Use Your Failures.
It’s well established that failing is an essential part of long-term success. I don’t need to tell you that in your journey toward a goal you’re going to fail repeatedly.
What isn’t emphasized enough around failure is that it’s not just enough to fail and keep going.
A fascinating 2019 study sought to learn more about the dynamics of failure by analyzing several massive datasets, including startup funding and NIH grant awards.
(If you’re a stats nerd definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.)
The main interesting finding here was that those that eventually found success did not necessarily work harder or longer.
They didn’t even fail more than those that never found success.
Where they were different was that they were deliberate about using their failures as growth opportunities. They failed, analyzed their failure, and adjusted accordingly.
Moral of the story? Fail smarter, not harder.
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Constantly take inventory of your mistakes & wins.
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Apply your new knowledge & improve your process.
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Do it all over again.
Don’t forget to fall in love with the process somewhere in there 🙃
Oh, hey! Thanks for making it this far.
Moving forward, one of my main goals is to cut down these newsletters into the most concise, value-packed knowledge nuggets that ever arrive in your inbox.
Let me know what you think about the shorter format.
I hope you have a wonderful week of growth 🌱📈
Jake
This was originally published on my weekly newsletter Circadian Growth