On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Why Failure Can Be a Really Good Thing

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Why Failure Can Be a Really Good Thing I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft. Bill Gates Failure is often a difficult pill to swallow. We feel angry, humiliated and defeated when we dont succeed, especially in a culture that seems to shove other peoples success in our face on an hourly basis. But what we dont consider is thatfailing is often a signalof great things to come. Consider this proof that failure may be the best thing that ever happened to you: Walt Disney was told a giant mouse aka Mickey Mouse would never work because it would scare women. Oprah Winfrey was fired at age 22 as a television reporter and deemed unfit for TV. Dr. Seusss first book, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street was turned down by 27 publishing houses and was such a flop he thought about burning it. Edgar Allen Poe was kicked out of West Point and his early poems were unsuccessful. Many people who have experienced failure such as Bill Gates say that failure tests you. It forces you torethink your strategiesand ideas and develop resilience and persistence in the face of adversity or opposition. It is those qualities that often help lead you to greater success, just as when Steven Spielberg didnt give up when he was rejected twice from the University of Southern California or Jay-Z couldnt get a record deal. Psychologists Ryan Babineaux and John Krumboltz teach a popular Stanford University course called Fail Fast, Fail Often, and will release a book of the same name in December. They contend that we need to fight the notion that is instilled in us as children that we need to be cautious and careful and not fail. Their research shows that happy and successful people spend less time planning and more time trying things and even failing. Trying new things, they argue, is what exposes you to new and unexpected opportunities. One part of their advice is that if youre going to fail, do it quickly. The more things you try and fail at the more quickly you will find the solution that works. That means that if youre trying to write a book, for example, dont agonize (read more here)