Why Failure Is Key To An Engineer’s Success
Engineers experience failure–it is an inevitable part of our profession and in life. Most of the time, we mistake failures and setbacks as the problem, but the real problem is actually overlooking the potential they bring. Every failure you experience is an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop resilience.
Most engineers deem failure as an ending. It is their proof that their plan didn’t succeed, and that their best wasn’t good enough. But what they don’t understand is that failure happens to everyone. The greatest businessmen, engineers, and scientists all went through failures before getting to where they are now. The only thing that separates people who succeed from those who don’t is how they handle failure. This requires that you learn from your mistakes along the way, rather than accepting defeat and giving up.
Here are 3 reasons why failure is actually the key to an engineer’s success.
Source: Engineer’s Success. The Small Business Show
Failure is a function of trying
One of the best ways to measure your progress at something is the number of setbacks you’ve had. If you haven’t experienced failure yet, chances are you haven’t tried hard enough. Imagine how blacksmiths hone their swords, it’s the same thing with success. If you want to be a success, you need to fail at least a few times.
Like I mentioned earlier, many successful men and women throughout history have one thing in common no matter what their social class is. It’s that they failed, failed often, and some of them have failed spectacularly. Henry Ford knew failure so much that he said, “Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.”
This shows that failure leads to opportunity and growth, not the opposite.
Failure is a stepping stone towards success
Failure is painful. Depending on the gravity of the situation and how much effort you put into a task, you will feel that sinking, falling sensation that you won’t be able to get back up again and do better. Success is about recognizing that you’ve failed and looking for ways to compensate for this failure.
Try to think of these questions as you brainstorm your next plan.
What is the root cause of the failure?
How can I turn this failure into a success?
Who can give me pieces of advice?
What should I research to avoid this kind of failure from happening again?
What did I learn from this failure?
Analyze your answers, apply, and grow.
Failure Builds Character
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.
It’s an exaggerated line, but being able to rise up from failure will certainly make you a stronger person. By choosing to be resilient, you build character and it brings you step closer to reaching your goal.
To be able to reach success, one needs willpower, intelligence, determination, and one of the most important factors–failure.
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