How to embrace failure

So far in my photography journey, I have dedicated at least a thousand hours to snapping and editing photos. Without knowing it, there are many lessons I have learned from photography that are applicable to wider life, and one of them is the ability to embrace failure.

When I say embrace failure, I don't mean that each time I take a photo I am expecting failure, but rather having the ability to recognise that failure is almost always unavoidable. This is something that has a significant crossover with most jobs or hobbies, as failure is an inevitable part of becoming a master at something. So rather than a depressing article about why we're all failures, I'm going to share some ways in which I embrace failure.

Why is failure important?

From a photography standpoint, I have failed far more times than I've succeeded. For example, on my recent trip to Munich, I took over 1300 photos. Of these snaps, I would say that only 0.5% of these meet my standards of a good photo (that's less than seven photos).

You could take this same and apply it to most industries. We have to fail more times than we succeed to understand what it takes to create/do something to the best of our ability. This is often the case with business startups, with 20% failing within the first year and 50% within five years.

Failure within your comfort zone presents moderate gains towards your goals, but the maximal progression can be seen when you fail outside of your comfort zone (as shown below).

Although failure outside of our comfort zone leads to the feeling of being anxious, this often equates to the more memorable experiences to learn from. The best time for this to happen is when you're younger or just starting a job, as there is less expectation placed on you to succeed straightaway.

So what does 'embracing failure' look like?

What really throws failure into perspective is the 10,000 hour rule, highlighted by Malcolm Gladwell in his book about Outliers, which suggests the notion that it take 10,000 hours to truly master a skill.

Despite numerous research papers disputing Gladwell's idea, it is still heavily relied on by many professions as the definition of becoming 'elite' at something. So when you consider the 10,000 hours, it's also important to think about the number of times that failure has taken place within those hours, as this is where the most learning occurs.

Martin Seligman (American psychologist) identified the need to be optimistic when it comes to failure. For example, adopting the outlook that you failed, not because you're terrible at your job, but rather because you're tired, may be the difference between 'learned optimism' and 'learned helplessness' (see video).

However, I would say there is a need to take accountability for the times we fail, as being 100% optimistic at all times is unrealistic (especially if you're English). Sometimes, we fail repeatedly because we're bad at something new and this may be where the optimism is needed most (in knowing that we all need time to fail and learn).

Embracing Failure 1 - Owning your mistakes

There is a misconception that our peers hold us to the highest, often unobtainable, failure-free performance possible. This pressure to achieve means we may not want to take ownership when we fail.

Matthew Syed (an author of high-performance and mindset books) highlights the importance of small failures being the warning signs that help avoid more catastrophic failure in the long-term. This is often difficult to accomplish, as we care about what our peers think and it makes us feel like we're awful at our jobs.

"We don't like to think of ourselves as dupes. That is why when we mess up, particularly on big issues, our self-esteem is threatened" - Matthew Syed in Black Box Thinking

Being comfortable with taking accountability for your mistakes takes time, especially when in high-pressure scenarios, with the risk of repercussions. But owning our mistakes isn't something that should be needed in the long-term, as we fail less and we get better at something, the number of mistakes should be minimised

Embracing Failure 2 - Reflecting (the why & how)

I once completely disregarded self-reflection as a method of improvement. But once you start breaking down the times you've failed and understanding why and how you've failed, the route to success becomes easier to understand.

For me, the best reflective practices are almost instant. This happens so quickly that you probably don't think it happens, but it often leads to the most beneficial learning. Instant reflection may take the form of self-talk (your inner voice) and is often remembered the next time you attempt the action.

Often, we set unrealistic expectations for ourselves, which encourages us to fail more and make less progress. Whilst this may be down to comparing ourselves to others, it is also due to not understanding our own individual differences and limits.

To ensure maximal gains are achieved from each failure, there should be time given to reinforcing the learning from the day or week. I eluded to this in a previous post around the need to create a second brain via journaling or voice notes; how else will you remember the lessons you've learnt?

Embracing Failure 3 - Have a short-term memory

Without contradicting myself, when it comes to failure, having a short-term memory is important. As vital as it is to instantly reflect, it's also about not getting distracted by your most recent failure.

My favourite example of this is within the NBA, whereby basketball players are praised for being able to forget the previous make or miss shot, as to not impact on their overall performance. Obviously, there's a difference between elite athletes and mistakes in the workplace, but the concept still remains.

When putting this into practice, the short-term memory is for the purpose of not getting distracted when completing tasks. Instant reflection is like a bookmark for reflection later, whilst the short-term memory allows for overall performance to be minimally effected.

Conclusions

No one in the world is perfect at embracing failure. However, by understanding the how and why behind our failures, we can reflect on them to ensure maximal growth.

I'm still learning to embrace failure, but each time I encounter it, I find there are many valuable lessons to be learnt. Next time you make a mistake; own up to it, reflect on it and progress. As much as we hate failure, we shouldn't let it stop us from learning from it.