Daily Cascade

Applaud Failure? Nope!

Prompt:
“Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure.”
William Saroyan
Is it always true that people gain wisdom when they fail, and have you ever gained wisdom from any failure?

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If I and anyone else always gained wisdom from failures, we would be the wisest people in the world. I don't know why failure is often described as a powerful teacher. The idea that we learn more from mistakes rather than from successes is a popular belief, echoed in motivational speeches, self-help books, and everyday conversations.

If so, all of us should go after failures, shouldn't we? But, no! No one really likes failing. This is because gaining insight from a failure is wisdom in itself and none of us were born that wise! Granted, we do learn from repeated failures only if and when it dawns on us that something we're doing is not working.

Then, what about context? The ability to learn from failure has to do with the environment and the support available to a person or even a business. When surrounded by mentors or friends who encourage reflection and growth, we are more likely to extract lessons from setbacks and other stuff.

Also, timing plays a role. Sometimes, such wisdom doesn’t come right away. It may take time and more experiences before a person can look back and understand what they could have done differently. Not that lamenting the past is wisdom, either.

So, isn't applauding failure as a teacher a false belief? Failure may teach but its teaching is not guaranteed and facing a failure can be extremely painful.

I, therefore, believe, in essence, wisdom really comes from the willingness to reflect, understand, and learn. In short, real wisdom is based upon one's sincere willingness to grow. Then, and only then, everything--including failure--, will act as a teacher.