Thoughts on failure
I was recently on the podcast, Growth Through Failure, in which I had to speak about a personal or professional failure I went through and how I overcame it. In the episode, I spoke about my over a year long search for my “dream job” when I was earlier on in my career.
Since being on the podcast, I’ve thought a lot about failure and have come to the conclusion that I don’t really think it exists, at least not in the way we typically think of it. This is the dictionary definition of failure:
“a lack of success”
I have two main problems with this. First, it makes failure seem so final and complete. There is no success, there never has been success, and there never will be success. How disheartening. At the very least, I think a better definition should be:
“a lack of success, so far”
But secondly, and I think more importantly, the definition of failure is wholly dependent on the definition of success. We all have those stories of playing a game with a friend and when you inevitably beat them because you are, of course, better, they say “I never wanted to win anyway so I didn’t really lose”. I think we can all agree that those people are sore losers, but, when you think about it, this mindset can be incredibly empowering.
You get to determine what your definition of success is.
I recently came across the concept of the “hierarchy of goals”, which posits that there are three types of goals:
- Input goals - this refers to the actions you take. For example, if you’re trying to find a job, your input goal could be to spend 2 hours a day researching companies and writing cover letters.
- Output goals - this refers to direct results of your actions. This could be completing 5 cover letters a week.
- Outcome goals - this refers to the meaningful, long-term results you want to achieve as a result of your actions. This could be getting 2 job offers.
As a society, our definitions of success are almost always tied to outcomes. We want to earn $X-thousand a year, gain X-thousand subscribers to our podcasts, etc. In fact, the dictionary definition of success is a “favourable or desired outcome”. And if we haven’t achieved the desired outcome, we consider ourselves to have failed.
But I think this is flawed. Outcomes aren’t always in our control, so why attribute blame or credit for them? Why consider someone a failure or success?
To be clear, I do think that having outcome goals is still important. At the end of the day, actually getting the job offer is important. And if you aren’t achieving the outcomes you want, it’s helpful to re-evaluate your inputs to see what could make an impact.
However, I think our definitions of personal failure or success shouldn’t be so tied to outcomes, and they shouldn’t be so permanent or final. I would redefine failure as:
“a state of not having achieved the desired goal, so far”
It’s essentially the process of working towards achieving your goals. It’s a necessary step towards “success”.
In case you're interested, you can watch the full episode of the podcast here: