When you’re in a competition, undergoing an exam or an interview, things can go wrong. An unexpected sudden slip, drowsiness due to bad weather or simply feeling unwell.
We always hear stories about failure, as well as success. Everyone hears how failure is the mother of all successes. Yet, we are still fearful of failure. As if the red marks in our report cards will haunt us forever. But does it mean we should not take actions? Procrastinate?
It sounds like common sense doesn’t it? But when I reflected on the studies or business models that I have done, I view failure as something to be avoided rather than to be embraced and analysed. As a student and entrepreneur, I hate it when things go wrong (false uploads, exam flunks, rejected interviews). But I always work to fix the problem and move on without looking back. Unfortunately, this isn’t the healthiest approach. I can see that it would be more productive to analyse the mistake and work out what I can learn from it. This is true when it comes with studying for an exam. It is important to try out different studying techniques that suits you, giving you the optimum results. It is also true that you might fail, but the experience achieved will be irreplaceable (keep in mind that you should measure the risk and reward of your decisions, as it is unwise to try out new learning techniques a few weeks before your CIE examinations, but do try them months before hand).
From the interviews we done with fellow students, reflection appears to have a positive impact on everyone (especially the youth), as one who never analyse failure and are frightened of it will not push themselves beyond their comfort zone. However, those who don’t fear repercussions from failure will take risks, try new things and make mistakes. This will differentiate them from their competitions.
If you go through life thinking that errors should be avoided, covered up and forgotten, valuable learning opportunities will be missed. So next time something goes wrong, whether it is an exam, interview or business failure, instead of just fixing it and pretending it didn’t happen, it is crucial to analyse them and face them head-on.