Can failure be a catalyst for creativity and innovation?
I believe so.
I’ve not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
– Thomas A. Edison
This quote sums it all up.
Being creative is not restricted to the arts; it’s one’s ability to transcend conventional ideas, think out-of-the-box, come up with original solutions not confined by the rules.
Be it the classroom or a boardroom, coming up with ingenious ideas can be the first step to overcome any bothersome failure.
1. Works as a catalyst for innovation.
I’m sure we each can come up with enough examples in our lives where a failure has triggered a deluge of new ideas overwhelming us with almost endless possibilities.
From weight loss journeys to making a career move to acquiring a new skill, each of these are filled with enough and more failures, dejections and heart breaks.
Yet what allowed you to reach your goal is your steadfast belief to keep working on the different alternatives and zeroing on what works.
2. Encourages risk taking.
You can’t expect to break barriers without taking the risk.
The ability to take risk shows that you’re daring to try something you haven’t before and are up for a challenge.
It need not be life threatening; that’s not the kind of risk you need to take.
I took a chance to experiment with a new method of teaching in my class. It wasn’t allowed so it was a risk I decided to take with my career. And when it worked, it was all worth it.
Parents and educators need to build this mindset in their children, to view any failure as a pause to review and rethink the process, and discover new possibilities.
You’ll uncover new talents or interests that were maybe being overlooked by the restrictive process you were following.
3. Teaches to embrace the learning process.
This goes without saying – unless you don’t embrace the process, you’ll never learn anything.
Keep learning. Some may lead to instant success, some maybe a washout. But in either instance, you‘ve learned something new which may prove helpful in the future.
Learn to enjoy the process without just focusing on reaching the goal. Don’t ignore the valuable lessons you can extract from the experience.
You can also learn from those ahead of you, from their mistakes.
But your journey is unique to you. Hence your learnings are also specific to you.
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
– Albert Einstein
4. Develops problem solving skills
Every time you face a failure or a difficult situation, you’ve to pull all stops to find a way ahead.
You’ve to think in creative ways to find the solution.
This will definitely help to develop your problem-solving skills. You learn how to review, analyse and examine each aspect of the process to figure out what went wrong, and where.
And that will help you understand what needs focus, the problem areas, how to deal with them, and the possible outcomes.
It’s a practical exercise to develop your problem-solving skills. This is one skill which has long term benefits.
5. Builds confidence through resilience
If there’s one thing you learn after a failure is to get up and dust it off. Staying down doesn’t help anyone, least of all you. This will build your confidence and resilience.
It may lead you to questioning your ability but that is an essential phase of introspection.
You know you’re capable of dealing with it. It’s your confidence in yourself that’s got you this far.
Being able to move on is this show of strength. Your confidence provides the impetus to keep moving. It’s your resilience that shows you the sterner stuff you’re made of.
Support of parents and those around you assist you to bounce back on your feet.
In short,
The next time you face a failure, don’t just crumble, wallow in self-pity or lose your confidence.
There’re many ways of doing something. This path did not lead to the desired goal.
Be confident in your skills, relook the different aspects of the process, rework the process making it yours, and then come up with some creative and unique ways of dealing with the setback.
Take a risk for yourself. You can do it.