Failure is a step on the ladder of success

Success is a state of mind and so is failure. Every positive thought or experience regarding any task completion primes neighboring positive thoughts or experiences. Same goes for every negative thought or experience. Hence, a charmed circle encompassing positive or negative outcomes is established depending on the original thoughts and the experiences that provoked them. In effect, depending on the type of circle one becomes intertwined in, a person can be labeled as a “success” or a “failure”. However, before rushing into complete submission to the fear of failure, one must stop to think that failure can never be a full-grown person in the flesh. Failure is just a label for a certain set of unfortunate outcomes and as such is set in stone within the frame of human understanding of concepts. On the other hand, a person is a dynamic set of processes which are persistent in the promotion of transience and change. Therefore, a stable label can never be firmly applied to a dynamic person. Hence, as a firm label for a transient state of mind, failure can always be turned around to become a success. And therefore, it is merely a step on a much longer ladder.

1. Fear as prevention of making progress and how to deal with it

There are several factors imposed to one by our very own societal norms which prevent failure from being perceived as a step on the ladder of success. One of the main such factors are the ways in which instruction is given regarding a task of any nature. Instruction tends to be filled with guidelines which mainly emphasize what should not be done if one wishes to complete the task successfully. This divides the perception of an outcome as fully successful or unsuccessful and prevents creative thinking in any form. Regarding this, success is good and the lack thereof is the opposite of that. As success is perpetually promoted as the ultimate desire of every human being out there ever, one grows to despise and more importantly to trenchantly fear the possible realization of failure. The only problem with all of this is that those negative thoughts of fear tend to predominate over the positive ones of success. These negative thoughts will prime past negative experiences and set the ground for future negative outcomes which imposes the threat of activation of the charmed circle of intertwined causes and outcomes. Furthermore, it will allow one to see no further from whatever is outlined in the instruction itself. This means that there will not be the slightest amount of possibility to perceive failure as a learning tool and a step forward rather than as an utter doom and lack of personal skill.

The first step of dealing with this fear is the shift in perception which will enable one to disregard failure as something dreadful and accept it as yet another part of the game.

2. How to alter the perception of failure and fatalistic thinking patterns

As already mentioned, failure is a mere label for a stable set of outcomes. A stable label is an inadequate description for a dynamic system such as a human being. Therefore, failure should be perceived as a learning tool, a mechanism which taught us at least what should not be done for a certain goal to be obtained. What usually prevents us from seeing failure as a learning tool is a fatalistic pattern of human thinking which fails to see beyond the label-like nature of failure and attributes stability imposed by faith on any outcome. For example, imagine that you have just failed an exam. The mere labeling of that exam as a failure will bring you to generalize your own personal skills as inadequate, the situation as static and unable to be altered and the future as bleak. However, if you bother to alter your perception to not account for the failure as an inborn component of your being, but a result of an unfortunate set of circumstances (e.g. the instruction was ambiguous, the material was not adequately explained or there was a discrepancy between what was emphasized during lectures and what was emphasized on the exam), room for improvement will appear on its own. So instead of wasting time to bring yourself down about your personal (in)ability to deal with the exam during the re-sit, you will work on understanding the instruction better or emphasizing what is truly important for the subject based on your previous unfortunate experience. And just like that your previous failure will transform into a part of your future success. 

You are a dynamic system and as such change is part of your nature. What seemed impossible today might come just within reach tomorrow. Positive thoughts bring about positive outcomes and the negative ones do just the opposite. Therefore, free yourself from fatalistic thinking patterns, work on your perception and prepare yourself for a future filled with sizzling success!

Also here are a few blogs in case you lack motivational resources:
Zen Habits
Pick the brain
Lifehacker
Personal Success Today
LifeDev