Temporary Defeat is not Permanent Failure

Does the idea of ​​failure make you feel that coldness in your spine? Failure is what most of us spend the most energy trying to avoid.

What is failure?

Actually, when you eliminate all the emotions associated with the word, failure is just more like feedback. Failure means we tried something and it didn’t work. So what should we do now? It is simple. We should try something else.

Humans learn from failure, understanding what does not work and adjusting their strategies until they discover what works. When we were children, we knew very well the feeling of “failure” when we tried to learn to walk. How many of us decided one day “Well, the way these adults walk looks great, I think I will too.” and then we get up without problems and start walking. A bit ridiculous of course.

We have all made countless attempts to find a solution to be able to walk without constantly falling. While we were learning to walk, the adults of our lives helped us and constantly congratulated us for continuing to try.

Then, somewhere, we learned not to take risks, to do only what we knew was the key to success. We have been taught that if we try something and it does not go as planned, a terrible event will occur. People will say: “Look at him, he tried to do xyz, but he failed.” Oh shame on him, most people will play it safe and never seek to reach their full potential, as they are always thinking in fear of failing and feeling defeated.

It is true that when we attempt to do something new for ourselves, we run the risk of failure. In fact, we could fail several times, but it is only by risking it with chances of failure that we can grow. People also remind us of our failures and tell us that they knew it would never work. OK. The thing is that these people never fail because they never try to achieve anything in their life! If you fail, at least you know you did something.

If you fail, you are in a state of growth because if you think about it, you gain experience and learn something from that. Most of the super artists in history have failed more than anyone.

One difference is that they did not let this failure (or the negative comments of others) defeat them. They simply continued to modify their strategies until they found what was working. They did not drop the towel and quit. They knew what they wanted and did not give up until they reached their goal.

When Thomas Edison tried to discover the bulb, he did not receive much support from the scientific community. In fact, they thought he was nuts trying to invent something that was clearly impossible. A young journalist interviewed Edison and asked: “Mr. Edison, how can you continue trying to invent the light bulb when it has failed more than 5,000 times.”

Thomas Edison replied: “Young man, I haven’t failed 5,000 times, I’ve discovered 5,000 methods that don’t work and I don’t need to try them again.” This is an excellent way to interpret failure, as a learning experience.

An effective way to deal with a failure is to ask yourself: “What is or could be positive in this situation?” This allows you to get some benefits from the experience and move on. Very often, we get our greatest success right after experiencing our worst defeat.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a published writer, although he never achieved remarkable success in this field. In 1849, a turning point occurred in his life: he lost his job which was full time. The following year, he dedicated himself to writing The Scarlett Letter, and this became a classic novel of American literature. Hawthorne turned a defeat into a success.

The conclusion is that we must accept the temporary defeat of “failure”. Because if we fail, we learn; and if we learn, we grow. And growth is really what life really is about.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes about the meaning of temporary defeat:

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent #life #happy #quotes #inspiration

Feel free to share!

One powerful thing you can do when you find yourself feeling defeated is to practice visualization. This helps turn our mindset around and catapults our chances of success.

You can learn more about The Power of Visualizing here.