Scientists Never Fail, They Learn
I want to share a story about failure to open up a discussion about our societal approach to something we all experience and fear. Recently, a client mentioned they were too afraid to try something new because they might fail. My client has a science background and all of the sudden, this image of a scientist in a lab came to me and I asked, “do scientists ever fail?”
Think back to your days in science class and the concept of experimentation. A scientific experiment never fails. It may not come out how the scientist hypothesized, but they always learn something from their effort and get closer to the answer(s).
Back to my client. Not only did my question help my client reframe their situation, but it removed the roadblock of failure and made them excited to give their ideas a go. They now knew, no matter what the outcome, they would learn rather than fail, and move one step closer to their goals.
I thought a lot about this after our session. I thought about where this concept of failure comes from and how it is so ingrained in all of us and that it only seemed to harm us, not help us. One source of this is our school system which assesses children on whether they passed or failed. Not, did they learn or not learn and what steps should be taken to support their learning process. Another source of our tendency to avoid failure is our primal instinct. Humans are wired to avoid failure to survive and in today's world, that's not always relevant.
I want to shake that notion that we either pass or fail from our daily lives. Everything we do, we have the opportunity to learn from. If we do nothing, we get nothing. If we try something, at the very least we learn, which is incredible in and of itself. And, if we try and achieve our goal, that is also a huge win. And, sometimes the outcome is not what we had planned for or wanted but, even better!
So, how do you apply this lesson to your own personal or professional life? Below, I share some questions to ask yourself when you feel the word or idea of failure creeping into your mind and or body. Along with asking yourself these questions, try to become more aware of what triggers these feelings and ideas of failure so you can stop this behavior and change your mindset to one of learning.
I challenge you to try to take the word and concept of failure out of your life and see how that feels. Strive to learn and experiment wherever your lab may be.
Questions to ask
What scares you about not having the outcome be what you want?
What would you try/do if there was no such thing as failure?
How does it feel if you know you cannot fail
Is the idea of failure and what it means what you want to uphold in your work or personal life?
If you could replace the concept of failure what would that be and look like?
Acknowledgements: I want to name that there are instances when life and death are in play and that looking at a situation as a learning opportunity even if it could harm someone is a very different concept than what I am talking about above. I also want to note that for some, taking an opportunity to learn is a privilege. I hope that changes and ALL can have the privilege to try what they want and learn. If any of these ideas resonate with you, reach out to chat!