How to Stop Confusing Failure With Inability

Failing is something that most of us hate. It isn’t a pleasant experience to try something and realize that you simply didn’t make the cut. The problem is that, more often than not, people will see failure and use it to justify quitting. There are plenty of good reasons to quit something, but failure is not one of them. When you let failure defeat you, you are robbing yourself of a chance at success that you wanted. Instead of taking failure as an indication that you aren’t good enough, it is time to realize that it just means you aren’t good enough yet. In this article, we will discuss the ways that you can stop using failure to convince yourself that you aren’t capable after a failure.

Identify What Failure Really Means

For most people, failure is a giant black mark across their potential. It is this horrible flag that tells us that we are not good enough. The bitter fact is that this is true. When you fail at something, it means that you did not make the cut. At that moment, for whatever reason, you were unable to do what you needed to do in order to succeed. Failure means you didn’t make it, sure, but you know what it doesn’t mean? It doesn’t mean that you can’t succeed in the future.

Recognize That Failure Applies to One Circumstance

A lot of us have this feeling of finality when we fail, as if some magical being will appear and ban us from trying again. There is no magical being, only your attitude. The only way to make failure permanent is to never get up and try again. When you fail and you stop trying, you have decided that you lack the ability to succeed, and that self-fulfilling prophecy becomes true. The fact is that failure is a singular label attached to a single event. You aren’t incapable. You just didn’t do it this one time.

Get Back On The Horse

One of the best ways to teach yourself that your failures are not driven by inabilities is to get back up and try again. Take the time to put in the hard work and continue to grow your talents and skills so that the next time you stand up, you are ready to try hard and succeed. Nothing will show you that failure is transient quite like following it up with a victory, so put in the work and show the world, and yourself, what you are capable of.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, failure is a natural part of life. The people who let failure defeat them are willingly choosing to give up on their dreams, and while that is your right, it can stop you from being truly fulfilled. Recognize that failure is a yield sign, a chance to slow down, evaluate the situation, and improve. It isn’t a stop sign, so stop treating it like one.