There are no certainties in life… except for one. At one point or another, every single one of us will fail. Failures come in many different forms – relationship failures, job failures, project failures, and so on. Quite simply, failure is something we will all surely experience.

And if failure is going to happen anyway, then we may as well learn to embrace it. 

Embracing failure is actually one of the most valuable things that we can do to secure a successful future; to create the drive we need. In fact, it’s so important that there’s a mantra that practically every coach believes in: ‘There is no failure, only feedback’. 

So just how can we use failures to fuel our futures?

• Acknowledge Failure

As Brits, we may have a reputation for having a stiff upper lip, but this can actually be quite detrimental in terms of growth and development. By not allowing ourselves to feel, we’re not giving ourselves a chance to learn how to control our emotions, which can result in a rather unstable foundation for growth. Acknowledge the situation, and don’t be afraid to allow yourself to feel sad, feel angry, feel upset, feel vulnerable, or feel any other type of emotion. By experiencing these feelings in relation to failure, you can learn to control these emotions so they don’t get the best of you in the future. 

• View Failure as a Learning Opportunity

Sometimes, failures happen for reasons completely outside our control… but not often.

In hindsight, there is usually something that could have happened differently that may (although not necessarily) have affected the overall outcome. Use failure as an opportunity to find what this something is; to identify what went wrong, learn from the mistake, and ensure you don’t repeat it in the future. For example, the idea itself may have been poor, or could have been executed badly. Perhaps you didn’t have the confidence to change or adapt, or maybe you didn’t have the right team in place. 

• Use Failure as a Motivator

Although you might have known that your endeavours were risky from the start, you wouldn’t have given them a shot if you didn’t have some degree of confidence that you could actually do it. A failure shouldn’t act as the thing that tells you that you can’t do it; it should be the motivator you need to prove yourself right. Use failures as your own personal motivation to keep going, to keep trying, and to keep heading on the right path towards your goals. Sometimes, you might find that’s the one thing missing from the equation: a powerful motivator nipping at your ankles forcing you forwards.

Why is Failure so Important?

At the start of this blog post, I mentioned how important it is to embrace failure. But why? Personally, I think that embracing failure is vital because there are really only two options here: we either embrace failure, or we run scared from it. If we run scared of it, we’ll never take risks, and none of us will get anywhere or achieve anything without risk.I’m not just talking about big achievements here, I’m talking about things as simple as going to the shops. Everything we do carries some level of risk; there is always the chance of something going wrong. But if we don’t try, we’ll never know if it could have gone right. Being afraid of failure means being afraid to grow, so we must stop thinking of failures as failures, and instead start using them as fuel to power our development, drive personal and professional growth, and ultimately create success.