Finding hope in your failures
Failures are experienced more often than not, but we only like to think about success. However, failure is just as important as success.
The first rocket ship didn’t land on the moon. Walt Disney didn’t start with Disneyland. Harrison Ford’s first film wasn’t Star Wars. Dr. Seuss was rejected 28 times before he was published.
Failure is one of the most underestimated, yet most powerful tools available as we strive to be successful. If we learn well from our mistakes, it will create a path towards our success.
“Ever heard of Microsoft Bob? The program was the biggest flop of my career — and taught me a lesson I’ll never forget,” words written by one of my heroes, Melinda Gates when referring to one of her greatest and very public failures.
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed,” said the famous Michael Jordan.
“They told me I couldn’t sing,” said Elvis Presley after failing an audition when he was 18 years old.
Failure makes us wiser, stronger and capable. At the same time, it makes us humble and resourceful. Failure forces us to face our fears and dig to the root of the problem and find a solution. Failure shows us what doesn’t work so that we can focus on what may work.
The next time you fail on that big project at work or you risk interviewing for your dream job just to be turned down, take a moment to stop, breathe and find out what this failure can teach you and show you about yourself. Make sure to take advantage of that unique opportunity that is presented to you by failure because success might be depending on tweaking that one thing your failure is trying to bring to the surface.
Like Albert Einstein said, “failure is success in progress.” You must be able to take risks that can turn into failures before you find success.
Diana Maldonado is a benefits analyst at Yuma Regional Medical Center. She can be reached at dmaldonado@ yumaregional.org.