We usually think of failure as negative. But wise people know how to take advantage of it. They learn from it. They use it as an education.
How can failures be good?
1. Failures can educate us. Mistakes are simply learning experiences. And some lessons can only be learned through failures.
I like to think of it this way: F.A.I.L. = First Attempt In Learning
A proverb says, “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful.”
If you’re not making any mistakes, then you’re not learning. If you’re not taking any risks, then you’re not growing. The freedom from the fear of failure is the freedom to grow.
2. Failures can motivate us. Another proverb says, “Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways.” Often we change when we feel the heat, not when we see the light. If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re going to get stuck!
3. Failures can build our character. We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character.
Failures have a way of softening our hearts. They help us grow up and be mature. They make us sensitive to others. They make us less judgmental and help us be a little more sympathetic to people around us who are hurting.
Failures don’t automatically grow your character. Sometimes they just makes people bitter. Failures only build your character when you look at them with the right perspective, respond to them correctly, and learn from them.
So, when you stumble, you get back up. Keep going and don’t let your failure be final. Learn from it and that’s how we also learn to be resilient.
Let’s put that into practice by pondering the following questions.
- What’s the greatest failure you’ve ever endured? What did that failure teach you?
- Has a failure motivated you to make a move or transition that ended up being something good? How?
- How have you seen your character or the character of someone else transformed by failure?
Excerpt taken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren.
Leave a reply below and let me know what you think.