On the first day of kindergarten, my 5-year-old self would not stop talking to the kid sitting next to me during quiet time. I was just curious as to why he was coloring outside the lines on his coloring page, and why he’d chosen a blue crayon for a pig. Suddenly, I found myself moved to the isolated desk in the back of the class by Miss Watkins. I silently cried while perfectly shading my pig drawing with a pink crayon. That day I learned something that has stuck with me since… judge people silently.
In all seriousness, I believe mistakes, rather than success, lead to the greatest life lessons. You cannot learn to be better through consistent success and achievements. To use my own experience as an antidote, I have had the honor of playing at Carnegie Hall at 14. The achievement itself was amazing, but I did not learn from my success. Instead, it was all the mistakes I made while playing piano that my teacher had to correct me on that helped me perfect the songs. This is just my personal experience, but I believe this goes beyond my own failures and successes. My parents have never told me a story of achieving something without having to work hard and fail at least once first. Think of it this way: when we touch something hot, we know to not touch it again.
Oftentimes, failure is viewed as something that we should avoid. It is a painful reminder that we as individuals and humans are not perfect- and society has always idealized perfection whether it’s with looks, art, or sports. Science has proven failure to be evidentially a “prerequisite to success.” So, I believe adapting and learning from mistakes is one of the key ways to succeeding in the future.
Late psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck, known for her work on the “growth mindset,” suggests that people who view failure as a learning opportunity are more likely to persevere and succeed in the long term. Research continuously demonstrates the importance of failure in attaining long-term success. Early entrepreneurs who failed, but persevered, were more successful later in life. 90% of entrepreneur’s startups will fail, but according to Neil Patel: “Cold statistics like these are not intended to discourage entrepreneurs, but to encourage them to work smarter and harder”
In the end, failure is not just a setback to your success but a lesson for learning to achieve in the future. Failure is what molds us into the people we are and the people we will become. It is what makes us human, and I think that is something that shouldn’t be frowned upon. We should view failure as a valuable guide and teacher. Research and my personal experience are both examples of how the mindset on failure needs to be shifted. Embracing our faults allows us to pursue our potential and our bright futures.