Is Failure Really Failure When You're Learning?

When someone thinks of failure, they often imagine the very negative aspect of it. They see the obvious outcome of not achieving. They see the initial disappointment. However, this embodies the fixed mindset. These individuals fear failure. They often do not take risky chances because they know there is a possibility that they might fail. There is no positive challenge in these people’s minds.

However, failure can be a breeding ground for growth. You may have hit the bottom and you may have lost this battle, but there is so much more to the situation than that. A growth mind-setter believes in persistence. Failure is a time to change yourself for the better. It is a time for growth and learning.

In Mindset the author talks about failure in all aspects of life, not just academic failure although that is what most people associate failure with. The strongest part of her failure argument, is that you must accept it and allow yourself to want to change. It requires you to take critique and apply it, not to be offended by it. I believe this is so important. I have seen on many occasions, that a person who was told what they are doing wrong takes that to heart and will not change. This can cause a person to become spiteful and purposely be resilient to the critique whether it is positive or negative. I think that our society as a whole struggles with this because I feel so many people do not want to be wrong. If we allow ourselves to fail, to accept constructive criticism, and to work towards the positive, we are truly growing. If you are always perfect and always right you will never have any space to learn more.  Your capacity for knowledge and experience should be infinite.

I personally concentrated on Chapter 6: Relationships. When a relationship fails, fixed mindset individuals feel defeated, rejected and judged. They do not see any rational and reasonable outcome from the experience. However, when a growth mindset individual has a failing relationship they are both forgiving and understanding. They also do not deny the fact that it is over and they move on. A fixed-mindsetter believes that a relationship is a failure if there is not instant compatibility, where as a growth-mindsetter understands that all things have the potential to grow and develop.

No matter which way you see failure in your own life, it is important to know that if you want to change you can change. You can transform your thoughts into those that foster growth instead of those that accept disappointment as an easy alternative. Giving up is simple, perseverance takes more effort.