There’s no failure
Muse #337 - or is there?
It is my belief that is there is nothing called failure. In most cases. Let me explain before you write me off on this.
The Oxford dictionary defines “failure” with two meanings:
lack of success
the omission of expected or required action
Let’s talk through the second thing first. If one knew about what is the expected or required action is and deliberately chose to not act accordingly that might be construed as failure. But what if one does not know what is expected or required? Then those situations are lack knowledge and could not be construed as failure. One cannot do things that they don’t know. Period. Obviously not knowing something will lead to failure of sorts and we know that even before someone acts. It does not take one to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.
Now, let us move to the “lack of success” and look at the underlying situations that lead to this lack of success. The lack of success is often through the eyes of people who succeeded. Not through the eyes of people who have not tried something out.
Let us say that I have never played basketball. The probability that I can throw a basket in most cases unless one is lucky is going to below. In this case, if I shoot a ball and “fail” an expert might say I was unsuccessful. But am I really unsuccessful? I could be certainly called ignorant. So if I don’t shoot a basket, I didn’t really fail but had 0% success. After several tries, I might have a chance of 10% success, but that does not mean I am a 90% percent failure. Even an expert player is not going to shoot well all the time, though his probabilities might be higher. And a 70% success rate might be called good, but he is not going to be considered a 30% failure.
Therefore here is my condensed version of the definition of “Failure” in summary:
Failure is often defined through the comparative judgment of someone else’s viewpoint of you. Someone else who has succeeded.
You never fail, unless you deliberately do something or not do something in order to create a negative outcome.
If something is beyond your control, then it is not your failure. It is just an outcome of an event. It is neither success nor failure.
You always succeed in doing things with results ranging from 0% to 100%. It is not lack of success. As long as you put in the effort and tried.
Trying is a success. Taking baby steps is a success. Falling down is a success. The first step is the pathway to the next step. And between one step to another, there is learning baked in. And as one takes more steps, one becomes more successful. Ergo, there is no such thing called failure.