My Advice on How to Prevent Failure

Before we even begin to try and brainstorm ways of being successful it's critical that you understand, failure awaits. Failure is part of life, it's the opposite of success, and depending on what it is you plan to accomplish or attempt, it probably has more than a 50% chance of occurring. But the beauty of failure is that after some time, you get used to it. Think about going to a party with your friends and you ask a girl to dance. She says no, so you look around and try your luck somewhere else. After a streak of "no's" from the gals, you decide that you have nothing to lose, so you try your hand the next night, but this time with more confidence. This leads me to my next point, consistent failure leads to better success. Take the previous example. You have a rough night and the ladies are not willing to dance with you, but after constant rejection, someone finally says "yes". That my friend is a great feeling! In fact, the feeling is much better than being told yes the first time. This concept should be taken lightly only because it can be blown out of proportion and some might get the wrong idea. Another benefit of failure is that you learn something. Perhaps you learn what not to do, or where you can improve, or a new way to approach it next time. Failure is supposed to be a lesson, it should awake the mind and make it realize that the current method's being applied are not working. Failure makes you try harder, you want to succeed, you need to succeed. So in a way, failure challenges all of us, and it should challenge us because failure cannot exist without success and success cannot exist without failure. 

Now, I guess you want my advice so you can avoid failure altogether right? Wrong, the first paragraph is written to get you comfortable with the idea of failing, the benefits of failing, and coming to the realization that you will fail. If you are trying something new for the first time, then you won't be an expert, henceforth you will fail, mistakes will be made, and you will mess up. But not all is lost, there are still ways to fail softer or not commit as many mistakes. It is all dependent on what it is you are doing. Are you starting a new job? Are you working up the confidence to ask someone out? Are you trying to learn a new language? 

For the most part, a few things can become a routine in your quest to avoid failure. It is critical to begin something new by asking questions. What is it I'm about to do? What is it I have to do? What have people who have done this before done? A strong start is researching and learning from other people's mistakes. Frankly, you won't be the first or the last to try something new. There is a good chance people have done it before you, so in a way, they already made the mistakes for you! Why not see or listen to what they have done and approach it differently. Continuing our quest, it is important to know that applying a method that has been used before won't always succeed. Chance and circumstances exist and if you believe in luck, well then that exists too. A good way to counter doubt and check people's methods is to become knowledgeable. Learn as much as you can about the job, the task, the challenge. The more you know, the better prepared you can be. A final step in the quest is creating a contingency plan. What are you gonna do if things go wrong? Will you try again? What are the consequences of failure? Understanding what is on the line and how severe mistakes can be will allow you to have a backup plan ready to mend those mistakes. At the very least, you should figure out if you are able to handle failure.

Following my advice and discovering more from other's won't stop failure from happening, but the best way to combat something from happening is to find ways to prevent it. 

So go out there, fail a few times, you'll be much better at it after a few attempts

Fear is for the weak...

Expressed by: Oscar Mendieta