THE IMPORTANCE OF FAILURE IN OUR CAREERS

DEFINATION OF FAILURE

Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success and the worst cases leading to personal injury.

REASONS WHY FAILURE IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Failure is a Function of Trying
The best way to measure your progress at something is the number of setbacks and failures youve had. If you havent failed yet, chances are you arent trying very hard. Failure is the blacksmiths hammer that tempers the sword of success. If you want to get really good at something, you have to fail at least a few times. If you look at all the great men and women throughout history, youll notice that they had one main thing in common. They failed, and they failed often. Think of Thomas Edison. How many times did he fail to find the right filament for his light bulb? There are various estimates, but they all range in the ballpark of a whole heck of a lot. Henry Ford knew of failure intimately. So much so that he is quoted for saying the following: Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently. Clearly, failure represents opportunity and growth, not deficit and loss.

 Success Lies in Seeing Failure as a Tool

Just as all the greats have something in common, so too do the true failures of life: their inability to use failure as a tool. When you feel that sinking, desperate sensation known as failure and you take it to heart, you diminish yourself. You give your power away to an external event. Success is about learning how to recognize why you failed, and how youre going to compensate for it. I find it helpful to ask myself the following questions upon failures, big and small. What brought about the failure? How much of it is in my realm of influence? How can I use my influence to turn failure into success? What steps do I need to go through to try again? What can I do every day to ensure that my next try is done more intelligently? You may want to get out a piece of paper and go through that list. Be completely open and honest as you ask yourself each question. Analyze your answers carefully and implement them dont procrastinate! Remember, failure is an opportunity, not a burden. Be grateful for a chance to grow

 Failure Builds Character

If you look at the events leading up to any significant victory, youll often discover failure as the biggest motivator. Just as the Colorado River created the Grand Canyon over a period of millions of years, success can also come in small chunks, and theyre part of any winning strategy. On the other hand, waiting years upon years for something to happen isnt effective when you can take action now. So what do you need to consistently test yourself and learn from failed attempts? Character.Success occurs in leaps and bounds for people who are ready for it. To genuinely create value, day in and day out, requires determination, purpose, and most of all, that subtle yet all-important trait known as character. Failure is a far better character builder than any affirmation or fleeting goal. While each success will propel you by a small amount, failure will forge your career and your personality like nothing else will. Its the difference between a natural lake being formed over thousands of years and a man-made lake coming into fruition in under a year.

REASONS FOR CAREER FAILURE

Laziness. Laziness is one of those things we can recognize in other people, even if we cant see it in ourselves. A good way to describe it is ill discipline. People suffering from ill discipline are those who are not thinking things through, not preparing themselves and generally just believing they can wing it. This leads to irresponsible, undisciplined behavior such as staying out too late, drinking too much, not sleeping enough, not taking pride in our appearance and being late when we could have avoided it. Doing such things leads to us letting people down. All of these behaviours show a laziness that we notice in others but have to understand that we ourselves are also sometimes guilty of.

Failure to take on board new things.

Were talking here about new ideas, new concepts, new skills, things that challenge status quo and so on. If we dont have the mindset to embrace what is new, we are in for a rough and ultimately unfulfilling ride in our careers.

 Not recognizing that your job is just a step.

During your career, you will have many jobs. You may not have as many employers as jobs but you are still going to have many jobs. The job that you are in now is a step to the next one. If you believe that the one you are in is where you are staying, possibly forever, then you need to think again. Youd be hard pushed to find a job that has not changed fundamentally in the last 5 or 10 years anywhere in economy. The likelihood is that the rate of change around jobs is going to be at least maintained if not increased.

HOW FAILURE CAN HELP YOU SUCCEED

Benefit #1 Failure offers a tangible representation of what can be done better. Sometimes we dont know what will work until weve made a few attempts. The result of those attempts even if they were embarrassingly off track can offer a visual representation of what needs to adjusted for next time. You might spend hours mulling over an idea, but our mind isnt always able to see the full picture without the aid of our hands actually doing the work. So do the proper planning, but consider failure a part of the necessary process to determining a solution or a viable idea. Benefit #2 Failure offers time for reflection. If we were always moving full speed ahead towards our view of success, we might not take the time to look around and readjust our course. Just because you are able to be successful in a particular endeavor or career field doesnt mean that its right for you. Failure is sometimes just the Universes way of telling us to look around and make sure we are dedicated enough to the path we are on to keep on truckin. If we arent where we need or want to be, its the perfect time to readjust the sails and move in another direction.

Benefit #3 Failure can offer motivation to keep moving forward. Think about the goals youve set out to achieve and been successful at. Id guess that the ones fraught with the most trials and tribulations are the ones you are most proud of achieving, right?The truth is if we are truly committed to seeing a goal through to the end, we are motivated by failure, even inspired by it. Failure can provide a spark that pushes us towards finding a solution or coming up with an idea that managed to elude us before that moment. Benefit #4 Failure can help you to confront fear head on. For many of us, failure is our greatest fear. So once weve allowed ourselves to fail repeatedly, the fear doesnt seem quite so powerful.

PROMINENT EXAMPLE OF FAILURE

Most people know that Abe Lincoln was a tall imposing figure standing at 64, he was synonymous for wearing a black top hat and he fought for the abolition of slavery in America. What you may not all know and what I learned from reading about him was his impressive character and the substance of the man. So what can we learn about the man from the myths? Rags to riches Abraham Lincoln came from a very unremarkable background. He grew up in a log cabin with two other siblings in Kentucky and he was the middle child. His parents moved to Indiana in 1817 where the family squatted on public land. As was in keeping with the time his older sister and younger brother died in his infancy. His mother died at the age of 34 leaving the young Abraham Lincoln devastated. So a child who grew up in the backwoods of Kentucky and who was relatively uneducated until he entered early adult life went on to become the President of America.

No matter how humble our beginnings or circumstances we can all achieve greatness. Surely Abraham Lincolns story epitomises the very essence of the now fabled American Dream as his life was a real rags to riches story. Abraham Lincoln Portrait2. If at first you dont succeed.. Abraham Lincoln failed a lot during his career. A famous quote that Lincoln used was: My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. Clearly Lincoln was not content with what others perceived as his failures.

Here is a list of some of those failures or setbacks he had in his personal and business life:
Lost job, 1832 Failed in business, 1833

Sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835

Had nervous breakdown, 1836 Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843 Lost renomination to Congress, 1848

Defeated for Senate, 1854

Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856 Again defeated for Senate, 1858 Elected President, 1861

Modern positive psychology would tell us to that there is no such thing as failure but rather just experiences. These experiences can be internalised by us as either successes or failures. Clearly like most successful people in business or politics he was able to use and interpret these experiences in a way that supported his development and ultimately lead to him becoming the 16th President of America on March 4th 1861. As Thomas Edison once said: I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Relating this back to my own life and work experiences in recruitment, professionals come to me a lot looking for advice on changing their job. At first they may not have the requisite interview skills to get the job they are looking for even though I help them prepare for it doing mock interviews, coaching and offering feedback. However, even after this initial coaching, professionals dont always perform at their best in their first formal interview. This is often due to confidence and practice. However, it can be the case that with each interview failure you can actually get closer to securing your ideal job? If at first you dont succeed

Most of us would assume that if we dont like someone or if we dont get on well with them than we try to alienate them or certainly keep them at arms length. However, this didnt apply to Abraham Lincoln. He did the opposite in his career when he most famously appointed many of his rivals into his cabinet and sought their counsel on important issues. The lesson that I have taken from this professionally is that it is really important to get all the major stakeholders bought into a project. This often means engaging with not only your perceived allies or the people on your team who you easily associate with. In fact, it is probably more important to involve your enemies in the process. In other words bring the people who you dont always see eye to eye with inside the tent. Seek out their opinions and thoughts. Actively involve them in the project. In so doing you will be surprised at their invaluable insights and also how invested they become in the project or process.
In the above I have mentioned just 3 lessons that we can all take from Abraham Lincoln. These are lessons that we can apply to our own lives both personally and professionally. The remarkable thing is that I could have added another 6 or 7 life lessons that we could all have learned from Abe. To name but a few Abraham Lincoln loved life, his family and was committed to lifelong learning and personal development.

THANKS YOU