What is Failure? -Especially for Newbies.

bySevenk

264 followers

6 years ago

Is "failure" a word we should endeavor to avoid at all costs. It's not something we enjoy, but does it have a positive side?

I enjoyed a measure of success in business in the off-line world, but everyone of those successes came with a fair amount of failure. It almost seemed as if the larger the failure the greater the success. Did I ever enjoy the failure--Never, because for the most part I never understood failure.

The dictionary definition for failure is a lack of success, that may have a ring of truth to it, but it is not the final word.

It is as if our mind is hardwired for success and we can't accept failure or we shouldn't. In some ways that is correct. In recent years because of technology advances, science has been able to understand more of the brains workings, hence coming up with neuroplasticity. The brain can change itself.

Failure creates a very negative feeling and can prompt a person to give up, to beat upon themselves, it is painful, sometimes it can feel as if a knife is piercing our body. I admit that some of my failures in the past I felt ashamed, because I didn't understand the purpose.

Is Failure Necessary?

I believe it is, hindsight is twenty-twenty vision. My past successes came at a price, in some cases a very high price, but the reward far exceeded the cost.

I am struggling here at Wealthy Affiliates. I have absolutely no knowledge of technology, so everything is new. Am I discouraged -No. I ask questions, some of those questions may be so basic, but for me, they are not. I've always struggled with remembering, when I understand, I've got it, but it takes time.

Benjamin Franklin failed in thousands of experiments in his effort to discover the incandescent light bulb. He never looked at it as failures, just ways that didn't work, until he found a way.

A child learning to walk will fall many times, is that fall a failure, does the parents look at the child as a failure. Failure is not in the parents thoughts and the child certainly is not considering it. There will be many more falls to get steady on their feet. Without falling, it might never learn to walk.

When we are working on something and it doesn't work or it is slow going or won't work is that really failure. I have to go over some of Kyle's lesson's two or three times before I get it, and sometimes I don't get it, but there is always someone with a helping hand.

Failure is simply a word.

It is not a condition or a circumstance. The mind sends a message to the brain and the brain can't respond to that message because the mind won't let it. So the mind has the upper hand and we believe we are a failure.

Fear Of Failure.

Someone can correct me on this, but I think I've heard that only around twelve percent of applicants to Wealthy Affiliates join the Premium ranks.

If everyone thought they were guaranteed success, that percentage would be much higher.

Fear and the fear of failure rate in the same realm, they incapacitate a person, it then be comes impossible to get pass that condition because it is viewed as failure. The mind has overwhelmed the brain and it is impossible to get beyond that little word with so much power.

Failure.

Last year walking the Camino, I crossed over the Pyrenees, there were some relatively high areas, while going up, I realized as soon as I reached the top, I was going down into a valley.

I remember thinking how that was so much like life, every time I went up, on the other side there was a down. It was preparing me for the next up, and this time could be higher and if not higher at least a different view. It was exciting.

Anyone who has joined Wealthy Affiliates and become a Premium member already have a measure of success. They believe in themselves enough to make an investment, not in Wealthy Affiliates, but in themselves.

All of us, especially us newbies have to realize, Wealthy Affiliates and many of the older members are successful, but I'm sure many of them can tell us it wasn't always a cake walk.

We can get encouragement from those people, because it works, it's been proven. Now it is us newbies, we will take our falls or our lumps but we have to get back up until we are in the successful ranks of Wealthy Affiliates or have reached the goal we had for ourselves when we joined.

The Final Word on Failure-From the Brain.

The benefits that come from failure is brought to you by your brain.

It will give you experience, when you get through a difficult experience, you now have first-hand knowledge of the procedure. You forget the pain it brought you.

It will give you knowledge. Walking the Camino I had a book as a guide but the experience of walking the trail gave me firsthand knowledge, the book was a help, but it could not take the place of the knowledge I gained from the experience.

It gives us resilience, the more we fail the more resilience we have, Every failure is meant to be, it is meant for us to step up not trip up. It is part of growing up. Think of the child learning to walk.

Perhaps the greatest of all is growth, when we fail and overcome the failure we grow and mature as human beings. We develop meaning from painful situations.

Failure is only a word, there is no need to be afraid of it, the mind does not have the final say, there is a higher power and we are admonished to "Reason Things Out." hence the purpose of the brain that was given all of us.

All of us have the tools here at Wealthy Affiliates. Very succinct training modules, weekly training sessions, a help center, an amazing community of successful people that want to help and the founders Kyle and Carson down in the trenches with us. The only problem can be us and then it is only if we let anything become a problem.

Happy Failures