Embrace Failure: The Path to Success and Career Growth

Fear of failure can be a significant obstacle in our lives, but adopting the Silicon Valley mantra of “Fail Fast, Fail Often” can help us achieve our goals and advance our careers. This approach, which emphasizes learning from mistakes and iterating on ideas, can be beneficial in all aspects of our lives.

The Pressure to Be Perfect

Women, in particular, often feel the pressure to be perfect in their appearance, careers, and personal lives. This pressure is exacerbated by social media, where we tend to share only the most significant and positive events in our lives. The scrutiny women face in the corporate world, especially women of color, can make the fear of failure even more pronounced.

Failure as a Stepping Stone

The “Fail Fast, Fail Often” philosophy is rooted in the technology industry’s need to innovate quickly and stay competitive. This approach involves designing a prototype, testing it, soliciting feedback, and iterating on the design. Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley often embody this mindset, starting multiple endeavors and learning from each failure.

We can apply this mindset to our own lives by accepting that making mistakes is a part of every aspect of life. Ashley Good, founder of Fail Forward, emphasizes that our challenges will involve failure, and that’s okay. The key is to iterate—to figure out what went wrong and what went right, and to build on that knowledge.

The Dangers of Perfectionism

A study at Smith College found that perfectionism can hinder performance. Students who were considered perfectionists did a poorer job on a writing assignment than those who weren’t. Perfectionists often avoid showing their work to others and receiving feedback, which can hinder their improvement. Randy O. Smith, the psychology professor who conducted the study, theorized that the fear of failure hindered the perfectionists’ performance.

Alina Tugend, author of Better by Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong, emphasizes the importance of being ready to make mistakes and try again. She notes that we often lose sight of this as we grow older and more accustomed to success.

Learning from Failure

Mari Corella, a digital executive at a national beauty company, learned this lesson firsthand. After being passed over for a promotion, she struggled to cope with the failure. However, she eventually used this setback as motivation to apply for business school, earn an MBA, and restart her career. Corella now views failure as a gift and a sign to try new methods of achieving her goals.

To “fail forward,” we need to recognize our instinct to find fault elsewhere and move beyond it. Reflecting on the situation and asking ourselves what we can change and how we can grow is crucial. Having a trusted friend or mentor to share our mistakes with can also help us move forward.

The Importance of Self-Compassion

Jessica Bacal, author of Mistakes I Made at Work, stresses the importance of self-compassion. Our mistakes don’t have to define us. Just because we fail doesn’t mean we’re failures. Bacal emphasizes that one mistake doesn’t represent our whole self or our entire career. Offering ourselves the same compassion we would give to a good friend is essential.

In conclusion, embracing failure and learning from our mistakes can help us achieve our goals and advance our careers. By adopting the “Fail Fast, Fail Often” mindset, we can iterate on our ideas, grow from our experiences, and ultimately find success.

For further reading, consider exploring resources on Mind Tools, a comprehensive site for professional development.