PERSONAL SPECIAL ....PROFIT FROM LOSS

PROFIT FROM LOSS





Have you given up on your hopes and dreams after facing setbacks? These pointers remind you how failure is good for you and why you should stay determined

Everyone goes through failure. But how you han dle it and what you learn from it is what defines your future. Most people associate failure with complete defeat.

Failure doesn't leave you empty hand ed. The lessons learned are the most valuable ones.

Claude Steele, a psychologist at Stanford University, has experi mented and observed how certain people perform under pressure. He ob served that when under graduates were given a standardised test to measure their intellec tual ability, the white students did much better than their black counterparts. A similar group of students was then given a test with no relevance to ability and the result of the blacks and whites were virtually identical. Steele concluded that this difference was due to the `stereotype threat': when a group of people is put into a situation where they are confronted with a stereotype about themselves, the resulting pressure causes their performance to suffer.

When you decide beforehand that you will fail, that is exactly what happens.Here are five lessons you should learn from failure.

Failure is an opportunity

The experience with failure becomes an opportunity to learn how to express compassion and empathy when somebody doesn't achieve their goals. When you have had the experience of failure, you tend to feel more thankful about all that you have achieved. You are thankful to those who helped you and even those who didn't. You will understand and empathise since your brain builds oxytocin, which brings warmth in your behaviour.

Failure isn't the end

When you fail, you might feel like there is nothing else left. It takes an emotional toll on you, breaking you physically, mentally and spiritually. It hurts you more than you can describe it but it still helps you build a better personality.

Failure makes you reshape your values

Each successive failure makes you reshape your values. You will realise that what was important five years ago, might not hold the same value anymore. In time, you learn to categorise your values and prioritise.

Failure presents you with knowledge

Failure brings with it first-hand experience and knowledge. This knowledge can be used in other events in life. Benjamin Franklin failed nearly 10,000 times to create a commer cially viable electric light bulb.

With each failure, he accumu lated knowledge, developed and ultimately found suc cess in his efforts.

Success is not everything

When you fail and learn from it, you realise that success isn't the only important thing. When your values are aligned with your goals, you continue to learn during the journey. When you value success over everything else, failure tends to look bad.

But, when you value happiness and your efforts, success becomes effortless .

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