5 Ways Smart People Use Failure to Their Advantage

What distinguishes people who allow failure to hold them back from those who use it to their advantage? It is either their actions or their beliefs. The actions you take to face failure are crucial to recover from it. They also have a great impact on how others view you and your mistakes.

Fear of failure is one of the biggest obstacles to success. It is worse than failure itself because it significantly limits your ambitions.

You can overcome failure by achieving success. According to a study recently published in the journal Experimental Social Psychology, focusing on the outcome or what you hope to achieve rather than trying to avoid failure leads to success amid failure. Although it might be tempting to avoid failure, those who do so tend to fail more frequently than those who focus on their goals with optimism.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

This seems easy and intuitive, but it is tough to apply when the consequences of failure are severe. Researchers also found that positive feedback increases people's chances of success because it fuels the same optimism you feel when you keep your goals in mind.

The people who change the course of history _ true innovators _ look to the future and see failure as just a stepping stone to success. The inventor Thomas Edison is a great example. He had to make a thousand attempts to create a lightbulb that would operate flawlessly. When someone asked him how it felt to fail 1000 times, he said, “I didn’t fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.”

It is this kind of behavior that distinguishes success from failure. Thomas Edison is one of many examples. Twelve publishing houses rejected J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter before it was finally accepted. She was given only a basic advance payment at that time.

Regarding talk show host and influencer Oprah Winfrey, she was so moved by the stories she was telling that it cost her her job as a news reporter in Baltimore; this characteristic would later become her signature. Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motors, also lost his financial supporters twice before he could produce a functional car prototype. There are many other examples.

Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do something or think you can't do something, you're right.”

Five actions you must take when you fail

There are five actions you must take when you fail, which will enable you to succeed in the future and make others positively see you despite your failure:

1. Admitting your failure

If you have made a mistake, don't assume nobody will notice. You will inevitably be exposed. Your failures become more apparent when someone calls them out. People will ask why you are silent if you don't say anything. They will likely attribute it to either cowardice or ignorance.

2. Giving an explanation without making excuses

Admitting your mistakes can improve your image by demonstrating trust, accountability, and integrity. So, make sure you stick to the facts. Saying, "I missed the deadline, which is why we lost," is an example of giving a reason. It is an excuse if you claim, "We lost because my cat was sick all weekend, and that caused me to miss the deadline."

3. Setting plans to fix things

Admitting your mistakes is one step, but things don't end there. What you do next is crucial. Offer solutions instead of waiting for someone else to fix things for you. Telling your manager the precise actions you've already taken to put things back on track is even better.

4. Developing a preventive plan

Not only should you have a plan to fix things, but you also need a plan to prevent repeating the same mistakes. This is the best way to reassure people that failure is just a step on your path to success.

5. Facing failure and trying again

It's critical to avoid becoming paralyzed by fear of failing and adopting a mindset that prevents you from moving forward after making a mistake. Take enough time to draw lessons from your failure. Once you finish, regain your resolve and try again. Waiting will make you feel the negative emotions will never end and raise the possibility of losing your temper.

Your attitude when faced with failure is no less important than your actions. Using failure to your advantage requires flexibility and mental strength, which are signs of emotional intelligence. However, when you fail, you have to consider two situations:

5.1. Optimism

People who recover from failure might feel optimistic. A British study on 576 entrepreneurs who achieved success after a series of failures found that they were more likely to succeed than entrepreneurs who gave up after their first failure. This feeling of optimism is what prevents people from believing that failure will continue forever. Successful people tend to see every failure as a cornerstone of their ultimate success because of the lessons they learn from it.

5.2. Perseverance

When you are optimistic, you feel positive. Perseverance is investing in this positivity. In other words, it is putting optimism into action. While everyone gives up and says, "Enough, I'm fed up," those who persevere overcome these setbacks and continue their work. People who persevere are unique because they possess a strong sense of optimism, which gives them a great ability to rise after failure.

In Conclusion

Failure is a result of your thinking. What one person considers a crushing defeat, another sees as a minor setback. The amazing thing is that you can change your view of failure to use it to improve yourself.