Failure is Success

Why is it that answers can seem intuitively right yet upon closer inspection seem misguided?

We all know that success is good and failure is bad. Even a child will tell you so. But if we look at the statement closer it becomes clear we need to define what we mean by “success” and “good”, “failure” and “bad”.

If success is getting what we wanted we again have to ask, is it the result we wanted or the experience? Most of us recognize the importance of the experience even if the outcome was not what we wanted.

I have often had the experience of reviewing a test and looking up all my incorrect answers. Years later the questions I got wrong are the only ones I can still remember the correct answers to.

We likewise learn when we miss the ball or say our lines incorrectly. These are opportunities to learn and progress and often the most productive opportunities.

But if we define success not as the outcome but as experiencing the journey we can never fail to succeed. Regardless of the outcome we will always have experienced something.

So we can never “fail” if by failing we mean not experiencing anything. Still, we all know there is failure so this doesn’t make any sense. Maybe failure is okay if it leads us to improve ourselves so that we experience success in the future.

This definition, however, devalues failure and only recognizes positive outcomes as having merit. Realistically we can expect most of our efforts to end in failure. Why not recognize them all as successes, albeit successes with divergent outcomes?

I think the biggest objection to this view is moral hazard. If we allow people to think of any outcome as success, how will we motivate people to strive?

The answer is self-analysis. Each person can determine whether the outcome achieved was the outcome desired and make adjustments, all the while recognizing each attempt as a positive learning experience.

And yet, amazingly, I still crave success and cringe at failure.