Failure can be empowering

By: Kayla Hunt, Columnist

Many people may be familiar with the phrase, “you must fail in order to succeed.” It has not been until recently that people have dropped the association of shame with failure and replaced it with empowerment.

I recently watched a TedTalk titled, “Don’t fail fast- fail mindfully,” presented by entrepreneur and author Leticia Gasca. Gasca contends that those who hide their stories of failure miss out on the opportunity of growth and lessons learned. Gasca debunks the idea of failing fast because she believes it promotes laziness and doesn’t allow people to reflect on what they can improve. However, she promotes the idea of failing mindfully, enforcing the idea that people should be aware of the impact and the consequences of failure and their responsibility to share their stories with others.

There has not only been a push for entrepreneurs to embrace their failures, but also for students to be more accepting of failure and learning to cope with it. Monica Fuglei, a faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, stresses the importance of students rethinking the concept of failure in her article, “Why Students Who Embrace Short-Term Failure Have a Better Shot at Long-Term Success.” Fuglei explains that students who experience failures tend to allow them to linger, which creates mental baggage and leads to an interference in their learning. She believes that students who are able to accept failure as a part of their learning experience are more prepared for the critique and feedback that contributes to their growth.

All in all, people should embrace their setbacks and learn from them so that they can apply these lessons learned in their future endeavors. Failure is becoming less of a negative, shameful experience that people should hide behind, but more of a positive experience that provides people with the encouragement to share their story with others.

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