There are some words in all languages that people hate hearing. In whatever language you translate it to "failure" isn't a word that people like having applied to the work they've done or even to how they live their lives. Failure is so final and permanent that it makes it so much harder to find the motivation to try to recover or figure out next steps. I think one of the things that frustrates me so much about this topic is that too often people jump to the "failure" word rather than using mistake, try (i.e. first try), or lesson. Because if we truly stopped at what people call 'failure' let's be honest that we wouldn't have people like Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, or even someone like Princess Diana as part of our history for anything other than the ways they "failed" and screwed up if "failure" was the end-all be-all that people make it out to be.
I really started thinking about this because I got an email from someone who has thousands of people on their subscription list and is very well known in certain circles and their email had a very glaring spelling mistake in it, along with reading a book that has thousands of published copies, was on multiple best seller lists, and was written by a very well known author which had a grammatical error that was also very obvious. I know some authors get completely crucified and lose readers because people are horrified at the "failure" they had over more than one spelling mistake, not to mention all the people in countless other industries who are called out for a broken link in an email or need to change dates for an event.
But if we accept that life can only really be defined or understood as one big learning opportunity, why are we so stuck on calling people on what we see as "failures" and letting those "failures" so define our relationship with them? I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't desire grace and a second chance in their own life, yet we're not willing to give others that same opportunity. So this week when you have an interaction with a "failure" I encourage you to lighten up on the pressure you put on yourself and that person in that moment. Focus on what could be learned from the situation, or just simply appreciate that you're not the only human who makes the occasional mistake, theirs just may happen in view of more people than yours does.
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