I was recently consulted by Tina Arnoldi, for an article on Theravive on how we can change our mindset about failure. I wanted to share some of it with you.
According to a study featured in the Journal of Nature Communications, we learn at an optimal level when we fail 15% of the time.
The problem is, most of us are so scared of failure that it keeps us from trying, and therefore, learning new things.
“To change our mindset about failure, we must first understand how our brain tries to protect us from failure,” said counselor Kathryn Ely, MA. “Our brains were designed to protect us and keep us from harm. One form of harm our brain protects us from is emotional harm. When we think about doing something new, our brains tell us we need to learn more before we actually try it.”
“While our brains may protect us when we hesitate to take action, it can backfire, keeping us stuck and fearful of trying new things. Ely says “knowing this is the first step toward not letting our minds keep us from taking action. Once we know this we can practice being process focused instead of outcome focused. Outcome focused is results oriented so it lends itself to perfectionism and fear of trying. Being processed focused is caring about how and why you are doing what you are doing, rather than the outcome.”
When we become process focused we can allow ourselves to treat life like the experiment that it is. Instead of a fear of failure, failure becomes a necessary part of the process. Try. Fail. Learn something from the failure. Try better. Learn more. Try even better. Success!!!
To read the full article, click here.