Perspective is everything.

Failure is growth.

Success is complacency.

As a society, we have been conditioned to fear failure; to feel shame, regret, and remorse. Yet, without failure, we cannot grow. Failure challenges our current perspectives, as we have an unyielding drive to survive and thrive. We cannot simply roll over and accept the failure, but instead must learn how to overcome and push forward even stronger. These are the moments that build us, from our core all the way through every action we take and interaction we experience. These are the moments that shape our future selves; who do you want to see looking back at you in the mirror tomorrow?

Striving for “success” is everywhere, depicted from a variety of perspectives. Success means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Regardless of any one individual’s perspective, success is defined as the achievement of an aim or purpose. In other words, we consider ourselves successful when we accomplish an arbitrary set of goals we have set for ourselves; make X amount of money per year, spend X amount of time with the family each week, have XYZ dream house, etc. In this vein, once someone accomplishes their goals, are they only considered successful so long as they don’t set new goals for themselves? Success, after all, is based on accomplishment. And hey, if I already have XYZ dreamhouse, and make X amount of money, and spend X amount of time with my family, what’s left to accomplish, right? Wrong! That mindset is saturated in complacency. After all, as Albert Einstein once said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying”.

There are, of course, a plethora of proactive methods to keep yourself maintained with various learning and growth opportunities. Continuous education and learning should be a foundational component of everyone’s growth and development arsenal, both personally and professionally. There is more easily accessible free educational information available to us today than ever before; articles, apps, videos, media, modules, blogs, books, podcasts, and the list goes on. Additionally, more formal options still exist as well; college, trade schools, certification courses, etc. Your continuous improvement is another form of personal and professional proactive growth. Taking time every so often to analyze and internalize different aspects of your life for improvement helps to refine your foundational building blocks. 

Perhaps the most commonly experienced method of growth is failure. No one likes to fail, yet it is a critical component of our generational and interdependent learning. Without failure, one cannot hope to understand or appreciate victory, consequence, or perspective. Failure is an incredibly effective growth tool; it's almost impossible to ignore, usually carrying a significant impact that resonates deeper than a win, and provides unique perspective and experiences. But more than that, our failures provide insights that we weren’t previously aware of, that we can take action on to improve for the future. Thus is the backbone on which the Scientific Method is based; we test, we analyze, we refine, we repeat. While we continue to execute this growth cycle, our ideals and concept of perfection ebb and flow with our refined perspective.

Perfection is an illusion, therefore, failure is an inevitability. Acceptance of this inevitability facilitates the ability to adjust your perspective towards failure. Failure is growth, and perspective is everything. Failure is a change catalyst that breeds collaboration and ingenuity. The improvements that stem from our failures are something to be celebrated and appreciated. Some of the world’s most significant contributions emerged from the ashes of some of its worst failures. Oftentimes, with enough clarity and high level thinking, failures even present us with an opportunity to do something much better than originally planned for. You’re in total control of how you experience your failures. 

The next time you experience a failure, challenge your perspective in that moment.

How can I grow from this experience?

How will this experience improve my life or the lives of others?

How can I apply what I’ve learned?

How can I pay what I’ve learned forward to others?

How can I turn this failure into a greater opportunity?

Strive to fail, strive to grow, and relish in every moment of it.

When you’re ready to take the next step, we’re here for you.