For a very long time, I feared failing. And what this mindset did to me was to make me think too much about failure whenever I approached anything.

While my mind was working on a project, I was also thinking about failure—what if this doesn’t work out?

What if it flops or turns out to be a total disaster?

And if it didn’t work at last, I would be too clouded by emotions to even think about why it failed, learning nothing.

You see, there’s nothing absolutely wrong with thinking about failure. Nothing. The big problem is how we think about it.

Many of us think about failure the wrong way.

We don’t see it as part of the learning process.

We approach failure in defensive mode, making it impossible to learn anything from the journey.

When you fail at anything at all, it could mean a dozen things. It could mean maybe you weren’t prepared enough, or you just discovered a way not to do something.

It could be anything.

Failure never occurs in isolation.

There’s always a cause, a reason, and if you think about it the right way, you will find the cause and fix it so that next time you don’t go down that path.

Here are some of my thoughts on how I think we should all think about failure.

Failure Is Learning & Growth

When we fail, especially at new things, it’s only a natural indicator that we’ve a lot to learn. And our response should be to go back to the drawing board and learn, and not blame ourselves or drown in self-pity.

An Opportunity To Ask For Help

Failure is also a very good opportunity to ask for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sure sign of wisdom and strength. When we hit the wall of failure, the healthy response is to quickly look around and call for help.

Knowing Your Limit And Capacity

We’re all growing, and as we grow, our capacity enlarges. There are things you can effortlessly do that you couldn’t even attempt five years ago. What changed? Your capacity. When we fail, it’s an opportunity to understand our limits. We sure have limits and capacity. There are many things I can’t do today, but if I keep growing steadily, I will be able to do them conveniently in the future.

Failure sometimes helps us gauge our capacity, and acts as an indicator of what we can’t do—yet.

Embracing Repetition

Repetition is the twin brother of mastery. If you want to learn anything beyond the surface, just keep doing that thing for a long time until it becomes part of you. When we fail at something, going back to try again is a healthy response rather than retreating.

Think Deeply About The Experience And Process

The experience is, most of the time, more valuable than the outcome. People might celebrate the outcome and shake your hand. They are mesmerised by what you’ve created or produced. They hardly know the experience or process behind it. You’re the only one who knows the experience.

Whether you succeed or fail at anything, the process is always more important than the result.

When dealing with failure, always reflect on the experience. How you got there, the steps you took, the things you did, the stress—everything that makes up the process —and think deeply about them; don’t let it all go to waste.

This is where the true value is, the process, the experience.

There’s Nothing Wasteful About Failure

Failure is not wasteful. Failure is a kind of resource. It’s useful. When an idea or project fails, it becomes manure or fertiliser for those who will eventually succeed. We build on our failures and mistakes.

Sketches And Strokes

Drawings and paintings don’t drop from the sky finished. The artist must start with rough sketches that don’t resemble the picture in his mind. ‘

He starts with strokes that don’t look like anything. More strokes, and he starts bringing in details; he makes a mistake here and there, but conceals the mistakes with more masterful and thoughtful strokes, and before you know it, the strokes come together to form a beautiful work of art.

Our lives are like a painting. There are many planned and intentional strokes beneath the surface, and there are also the unplanned ones—everything comes together to make one beautiful painting, but no one sees the rough strokes beneath the surface.

Approach failure with this mindset. Every failure is like a rough stroke of the brush beneath the surface. It all comes together to form the beautiful picture you’ve in your heart.

It’s Not Your Identity

You are not a failure.

You only failed at that thing. It’s the idea that failed, and not you as a person.

Failure isn’t your badge or identity. It’s just an outcome, a result, it’s not who you are.

You are not weak; you just have a lot to learn. When you learn those things, you become better, and next time you will be able to move beyond failing.

When you allow failure to cling to your identity, it does something devastating to your mindset.

You begin to think like a failure, and the more you let that kind of thinking sit in your mind, the more you naturally act and live like one, and then you become a failure—you truly become a failure.

The ball is always in your court.

The Cocktail

Life is a mixture of successes and failures. Nobody has it all good. We are the ones who create the results we desire with all that’s thrown our way. The big difference between those who do truly great things in life and those who don’t is how they think about failure.

They don’t allow it to stick to their identities!

They learn from it and move on fast!

They don’t stay with the failure!

Move Fast

In the fast-moving world of startups, business, and entrepreneurship, the ability to iterate fast is a superpower.

Teams that learn quickly from mistakes, pick up the pieces after crashes, and improve products and services fast are the ones that always win in the end.

The same principle applies to life in general. You must be able to move fast after an episode of failure.

Don’t waste too much time crying (crying is good, it’s an emotional response, but don’t spend good time and resources that would have been used to do better things crying over something that can’t come back).

Adapt Fast

The longer you remain in the valley crying or whining over failure, the more rigid you become, and the more difficult it will be for you to be able to adjust and adapt, and in some cases evolve.

Ultimately, how we think about failure shapes our growth. Embrace failure as a stepping stone, not a stumbling block.

Remember that failure is an opportunity for learning and growth, and you must think deeply about the whole process and experience, and most importantly, failure or failing isn’t your identity, it’s not who you are.

Thank you for reading. We haven’t fully resumed publishing on our website yet (we’re still enjoying the holidays).

Full publishing will start soon, but in the meantime, we’re still publishing a few things, like this thought leadership piece and other general editorials and articles.

Just to mention before we make it public. We’re looking for a reporter/journalist (intermediate levels) to cover healthcare in Africa.

They would typically report on trending issues in Africa’s healthcare ecosystem, including public health, innovation, leadership, healthcare finance, and other important developments.

Experience in reporting is strongly needed. This is an important role for us as a publication and media brand as we step into the next phase of growth.

If you think this is you, kindly send us a message here (editorialdesk@carecityonline.com) with a link to your portfolio, and we will get in touch to schedule an interview. We need someone who enjoys and loves writing and storytelling. Someone who wants to use their writing to cause and effect changes, and is ready to put in the required work, especially in research.

Please note that this role is not for beginners. We need someone with experience in reporting, journalism, and research, and being a healthcare professional makes it even more interesting.

Finally, we’re taking in new clients. If you’re a healthcare brand, business, or entrepreneur in Africa looking to build or improve your media infrastructure to support your vision, this is an opportunity to work with us.

Find out more about our services here. Or just shoot us a quick email here: media.business@carecityonline.com.

See you soon!