What do you mean by successful failure? Is there really such a thing or is it just an oxymoron? Have you heard of the following?
- Success is not failure, and failure is not fatal
- Failure is the pillar of success
- Failure is the key to success
- Failure is success in progress
- Failure is part of success
- Failure leads to success
Success is not a one-hit-wonder. Failures provide us the information to what we are not doing right. Like a jigsaw puzzle, they give us a more complete picture of the things that we are targeting to learn, to master, and to achieve. Someone who achieves success too quickly fails to attain the full knowledge. The more we fail, the more we learn about different ways of doing things right and what are the ways that will make things wrong.
“Successful Failure” was the speech Yoong Ee Chuan used for Toastmasters District 80, Division B, Area B2 International Speech Contest in 2021.
- International Speech Contest
- Speaker: Yoong Ee Chuan, ACB, CL – Member of The Open Alumni Toastmasters Club
- Area B2 International Speech Contest on 13 March 2021
- Title: Successful Failure
All of us have heard at one point or another, this Chinese proverb, “failure is the mother of success” (失败是成功之母).
But what does that really mean to you, to me and to all of us?
Madam Contest Chair, distinguished judges, fellow contestants, fellow toastmasters, ladies and gentlemen.
My speech, an oxymoron or an apparent contradiction entitled, “Successful Failure” will cover the following points:
- Why failure is important to success in life?
- What can we do when we encounter failure?
- How can we successfully fail and yet achieve our goals and objectives in life?
Table of Contents
Why Failure is Important to Success in Life
When we were babies, how did we learn to walk? Were we ready to walk after being born in the hospital? No! It takes an average of 12 months for a baby to learn to walk. And for parents out there we know that babies learn to walk by first crawling. Then they try to stand up and to take the first few steps by themselves. They fail and fall many times. Countlessly, repeatedly, incessantly.
Failure Encourages Us to Become Better
As we grow older, we tend to become more risk adverse because we care about how other people perceive us. Nobody likes to fail in school, at work or in our personal lives. And yet, failure at whatever we are doing is telling us, we can be better at this!
I have failed in school before, getting less than 50% in a Mathematics Test on Graphs! I have failed at work before, firing a staff for poor performance but having to retract the decision because I did not follow the specific terms of the employment contract.
And I have failed as a parent before, losing my temper and shouting at my family members out of my own frustrations.
Our failures are telling us, we can become better versions of ourselves!
What then can we do when we encounter failure?
What Can We Do When We Encounter Failure
Accept It
Accepting that we are only human and that we fail on occasion allows us to acknowledge the facts and the realities. It develops in us a sense of reality that the world is what it is and not always what we want it to be.
Feel It
Failure is painful. Nobody likes the feeling of shame, humiliation or powerlessness in the face of failure. Allowing yourself to feel the pain is to allow yourself to be fully human, to fully feel the sadness of failure so that we can truly appreciate the joy of success.
Learn from It
The British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Learning from our failures is what drives our growth and development into better persons every single day. We can only be better if we arise from the ashes of our failures.
Let us examine how we can take what we have learned so far and turn failure into success.
How Can We Successfully Fail, Yet Achieve Our Goals and Objectives in Life
Leverage on Past Failures to Build Future Success
Experience is gained from trying to do many different things. Our past failures teach us what works and what does not and we can leverage on these past failures to build future success by not repeating what does not work and in doing things that do work.
Failure is Never Final
I shared that failure is a form of feedback earlier in my speech. Failure is never final unless we allow it to be so. Our goals and dreams in life are for us to conceive and for us to dare to achieve. The only failure in life, is the failure to try and work on our goals and dreams.
Conclusion
I have shared why failure is important to success in life. I have talked about what we can do when we encounter failure and how we can successfully fail and yet achieve our goals and objectives in life.
Now, do you want to achieve successful failures in your lives?
0 Comments