The “L” in Failure

Thomas Edison claimed he didn’t fail before inventing the light bulb, he learned a thousand ways that didn’t work. Business leaders who used to say “failure is not an option” now encourage their teams to “fail fast.” The “L” in Failure stands for lesson, and there is a lesson in the middle of every failure. 

Your mindset has a lot to do with how you view failure. If you have a growth mindset, you see failure as a learning opportunity. If you have a fixed mindset, you see failure as a lost opportunity. There is always something to be taken from failure; a lesson uniquely relevant and tied directly to it.

In his book, The Portable Coach, Thomas J. Leonard makes the following distinction: “Feedback is helpful to evolve and grow. Failure is the story you put to feedback.”  Don’t miss the feedback (lesson) in the failure by looking too negatively at it or from shying away from it. Rather, adopt an attitude of “formalizing failure” by proactively acknowledging, describing, and growing from failure. 

Hindsight is 20/20, use it to learn the lesson you’re meant to learn in the failure. Reflect on it. Grow from it. Then move on from it.