“Embrace Failure”
That was the subject line of an email that I received yesterday. Seriously.
I don’t think I’ve heard anything more stupid in my entire life.
Embrace failure. Really? It’s like all the people that never got picked for kickball in the third grade are either running the show or in positions of influence. It’s no wonder we’re morphing into a society that wants to be taken care of instead of being masters of their own destiny. “Oh that’s ok, failing is fine. It’s not your fault. At least you tried. Let’s have a big kumbaya hug and feel great about ourselves for at least trying”.
What a bunch of bullcrap. I can’t think of anything more counterproductive than excusing away failure.
I vehemently disagree that failure should be “embraced”. I hate failing. I despise it. It burns me up inside. It consumes me. In fact not succeeding at something is one of the worst possible things that can happen.
So instead of “embracing” it like so much psychobabble baloney, I attack it head-on. I treat it as a mortal enemy that needs not only to be defeated, but eradicated. Stamped out. Eliminated.
Now don’t get me wrong. I get that failure is common. And based on my own experience it’s all too common.
But that doesn’t mean we should embrace it. Or feel good about ourselves when we fail. No way. You don’t get any brownie points or ROI from trying and failing. You get them from results. And results only occur when you face failure head-on, and keep doing that, until you succeed and get the results you’re looking for.
So while failure may be necessary, it’s never something that should be embraced.
