“FAILURE”- A Perspective

In a world with ever-growing aspirations, intense competition, overt focus on end-results, and plethora of subsequent issues attached to it, the phenomenon of “failure” requires a deep analysis. This post tries to study “failure” and explores how viewing it from different perspectives can alter the result of failing.

One exercise first: When was the last time you failed at something?

Irrespective of whether the failure was big or small, try to think about why the failure made you feel bad, if at all. Was it because you didn’t give your best effort? Or was it because you gave your best but the external factors, aka luck, didn’t go your way? Or was it because, despite having come to terms with the failure, you were worried about facing the society, being looked down upon for not making it, and having to explain the reasons for failure, over and over again, to various direct and indirect comments?

To my understanding, a majority of fear and mental issues associated with failure is due to how society views it- largely with disdain; or how we perceive the society views it- again with disdain. More so than anything, it is the burden of expectations, explanations, and comparisons that is the culprit.

The Experience from Failure

Come to think of it, we never actually “fail” in isolation, because in isolation there is no judgement. The event would just be another Experience- just something that we aspired for and tried but couldn’t achieve. Ideally, we can take the event as a learning experience and move on or try again better. Few issues though: One, our efforts didn’t yield the desired result and that is often heart-breaking, especially if the stakes were high. Two, we live in an inter-dependent world, and not every stakeholder (for the lack of better word) in our journey would be ready to accept the non-positive outcome.

Any which way, we fail only if we try. The greater the thing is that we try for, the more is expectation and anticipation about the outcome. The schools of thought which propagate non-action to be free of desires and consequences may not fit in this view but: trying is the bigger deal here than outcome because only trying/ effort leads to new experiences. Trying itself needs to be commended, irrespective of the outcome. Moreover, the moment we decide to try, we could do better to accept the fact that failure is one of the possible outcomes.

A Zero-Sum game?

Contrary to the common perception, failure is not a zero-sum-game. It’s not a win-all or lose-all situation. Except probably for competitive exams in India!!! See what I did there. But this is just for exaggerated illustration, and again not entirely true. Not succeeding at something doesn’t necessarily need to mean failure. The try that we gave does teach us something, and the scale of this teaching is similar to that of the venture undertaken. However, the value of these teachings is often realized much later than the event of failure itself.

Take the example of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission which attempted a soft landing of the lander Vikram on Moon’s south pole, but was unsuccessful at it. While it was instantly termed a “failure” and many hearts were understandably shattered, in the long term, the data from the descent and unsuccessful landing is being turned into information to improve upon further such initiatives. So has it always been the case: Experience from failures feeds into the future ventures. So has the humanity ever made progress!

Accepting failure with dignity

Ultimately, it all boils down to how we handle the event of failure. Emotionally, every one of us is different. But, the sooner we accept a non-success, the greater we can take-away from it in the long run. I, for one, try to give it my best, and if failure comes out of it, accept it with dignity.

Our lives are a sum-total of the decisions we make. How we perceive and react to failure is one of those important decisions. On a higher level, the effort could better be about the effort itself, detached from the desire of end results. Nishkam Karma (निष्काम कर्म), as highlighted in the Bhagwad Gita.

So, it’s up to us whether to continue treating failure as a negative event, or rather just as a non-success, another experience, a stepping stone for way ahead.

About time the meaning of the word is turned on its head!