Embracing Failure: A Pathway to Success in Career and Life

Some weeks ago, I hosted an hangout on Hive Learners Discord server in which we discussed failure and how it contributes to our success. I would be answering some of the questions we discussed during the hangout. Feel free to join to answer these questions if you like them.

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In less than 30 seconds, what is your definition of failure?

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If I were asked to defined failure to my understanding in 30 seconds, I would say failure is the when you stop trying making another attempt after every unsuccessful attempt. Then I would say you failed. This is because not making another attempt has killed every possibility of ever becoming successful in the field or whatever you are into.

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Do you agree with the fact that failure plays a significant role in building a successful career?

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To give another definition of failure, I would say it is a necessary pathway to be successful. At every point when we fail, we learn from our mistakes, become better than we were, and know what does not work. The more we make different attempts, the more we get to know the rules that apply to what that does not work. Sooner or later, we would attain the point of finding what works.

This is why I say it is a necessary path to failure. If one wants to build a sucessful career, then you would have failed and achieved a lot of knowledge that would solidify your knowledge in your career path.

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Do you believe a successful person who has never failed exist? An individual who is known to succeed all the time, can such person be considered an experienced person in his/her field.

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Hmm. I would say NO. This is because at some point we would have made mistakes in our lives that would have caused us to fail at one point or another. And even if we have the guidance of a mentor or role model who has a lot of experience and we follow their path, failing at some point in our lives is inevitable. It is paramount to make at least one wrong choice in our lives that would contribute to our knowledge of becoming successful.

If an individual is successful all the time in his field, yes I would say he is experienced. He may not probably be based on the experience he earned from personal trials; it could also be from that of others and those who have guided him or her along the way.

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Have you ever failed in your pursuit of something, and it eventually motivated you to achieve it? Or have you ever failed in your pursuit of something, and it eventually became the reason why you gave up on it?

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Talking about failing in my pursuit of something... I remember when I wanted to write my post-UTME, which is an entry exam into a university. I got about 60%, which I had thought would get me to enter the course of study I wanted but unfortunately, I didn't get the course, which made me wait for another year to rewrite my post-UTME, and when I came back, I got 71% in the exam and the cut-off mark for that particular course was 70%.

I was overjoyed and happy that I had made it. When I first failed to meet the cut-off, I was hurt, pained, and angry with myself. I had to go back home to wait for another year and prepare harder to make sure I studied the course of my dreams. It had been my burning passion since high school.

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Failure or success—which of these do you think teaches the greatest lesson?

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My choice is failure. Failure does a lot of things to someone; it breaks a person, makes the person hungry for success, increases their knowledge, and builds their experience in their path. With failure, a person would learn all the rules that do not contribute to success. Hence, it teaches the greatest lesson needed to attain success.

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