There are lots of people out there who feel as though they have failed at something they anticipated to have high success with. And some of us truly have failed, not only once but multiple times (myself included). But, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I’m finding the case is more often that we simply haven’t gone far enough to experience failure and learn from it the right way.
While it may be common sense to have to try something before you can experience failure at it, many people feel the reverse effect: the onset of failure before there is even a chance to achieve any measurable results. Instead, we should first be asking ourselves what our goals are and further define what failure looks like so we can identify it before it is too late.
When looking at some of the things you might have abandoned or walked away from for one reason or another, take a minute to look at those things through the lens of my statement above. Suddenly, things take on a different shape and you might even start to feel differently about having regrets.
Some projects I’ve walked away from left me with feelings of deep regret at best to incredible angst and bitterness at worst. I’ve been at both ends of the spectrum.
But the “take-home” message here is that you should re-examine why you walked away from something and whether or not you gave it enough time to come to fruition. If you’re like me, you think analytically and have to have a reason for everything under the sun. That can be a downfall, but it doesn’t have to be. You can use that to your advantage.
Consider whether or not you took things far enough to see any measurable results and, even more importantly, whether or not you gave yourself any goals to begin with. A project without clearly-defined goals is a project destined for disappointment and possible failure. If you didn’t define any goals and you ended up walking away from a project prematurely, don’t fret. Do what I did. Learn from it and move on. Your next project will come together more clearly.
