The Anatomy of Failure

When you look back on your life so far, what are the things that you remember?

Personally, I can divide my memories into two major categories. There are the “triumphs” and there are the “failures”. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to think about and talk about all the good things that have happened in your life? Have you ever noticed how easy it is to revel in something good that you accomplished?

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to look at a “failure”?

It’s hard to look at something in your life where you didn’t “quite make it”. It’s even harder when you “didn’t quite make it” and it was in public

It seems to me that this is a flaw in some people. Whenever there is a failure in their life, whether it was in their control or not, most people have a really tough time taking a step back and examining the “anatomy” or make-up of their failure. While people need to always strive to succeed, it’s important that you learn how to manage and deconstruct failure when you do find yourself there.

So, when you fall into a situation that you consider a “failure” there are a few things that you need to do.

The Anatomy of (Successfully Navigating) Failure

A really smart guy (Zig Ziglar) once said, “Failure is an event, never a person; an attitude, not an outcome.”

That one statement pretty much sums up everything you need to understand about navigating failure, but let me break it down a little further for you.

“Failure is an event, Never a Person”

As a society we tend to put labels on people. We say, “John is such a Failure. He can’t do anything right”, or “John is such a success, everything he touches turns to Gold”. Thinking in such a manner makes absolutely no sense. Every person’s successes and failures are a culmination of a series of events. Those events may lead you to fortune or they may lead you to failure.

The moment you start seeing your day as a collection of events/opportunities that can build a success or failure, you start seeing a clearer picture of the way the world works.

Right now is the point when a few of you will start citing the fact that uncontrolled circumstances can play a part in our lives. And right now is the point when I start pointing out people like Helen Keller or any of the folks in the video below. (They didn’t exactly have a charmed life.)

When you look at a failure in your life, you have to do one thing. Break it down and learn from it. The only true failure is when you mess something up and don’t learn from it. If you have never had a “failure” in your life then you are essentially an un-complete person. Part of the “Human Experience” is falling down. Success is being able to use every failure in your life to achieve a success.

Let’s take a look at the second half of Mr. Ziglar’s Quote:

“Failure is an attitude, not an outcome.”

The second part of Zig’s quote is something that I think people have a really tough time with. The key to really overcoming failure is to see it as a temporary inconvenience. When “failure” really starts effecting our lives is when we lose the ability to let go of it. Failure is never an outcome….unless we make it that.

The point here is that unless a “failure” results in the life being taken from our bodies…then it doesn’t really exist…except for in our minds. If it does exist in our minds, however, then it can seem very real and even impact our “everyday”.

4 Steps to Dealing with Failure (Hint: all mental)

1. Realize that its only as real as we make it.
2. Failure is an event, not a person.
3. Failure is an attitude, not an outcome.
4. There is no lasting Success without Failure of some kind.

So, what was the biggest failure in your life so far?

How did it make you better?

If you haven’t seen the “light on the other side”…what are some possible outcomes that you can see?

Tags: failure, success, zig ziglar