Failure

By Lily Phan (Psychologist)

“Failure is simply an opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” 
 - Henry Ford

​What is failure?
Failure can be defined as “a lack of success in doing or achieving something” (Collins, 2020).
 
Failure is not always a bad thing
Atkinson’s risk-taking model predicts that people high in fear of failure and low in need for achievement may react atypically to failure and success experiences (Moulton, 1965). This is where people increase their aspiration levels after experiencing failure and lower it after experiencing success (Moulton, 1965). Therefore, failing may increase your motivation to succeed. Research has found the ‘sweet spot’ for learning is having an 85% success rate, with learning optimised at a 15% failure rate (Wilson et al., 2019). Thus, it can be argued that you do not learn new things if you succeed 100% of the time, and failing leads to more learning experiences.
 
Cultural differences
There are cultural differences in how people perceive and respond to failure. Sue Bryant (2019), an award-winning writer and editor specialising in global business culture and travel, argues that in the United States of America “failure is seen as a mere bump in the road to success” whilst in Germany it “is seen as weak and inefficient”. A study found that North American participants who failed on tasks were less persistent on a follow-up task than those who succeeded (Heine et al., 2001). In contrast, Japanese participants who failed persisted more than those who succeeded (Heine et al., 2001). The differences may be attributed to the Japanese participants showing evidence for a self-improving orientation where failures are seen to highlight that corrective efforts are required (Heine et al., 2001).
 
What can I do if I have failed?

1. Accept how you feel. It is okay to feel upset or angry; it is okay to feel bad about not succeeding at something. Brushing the feelings aside immediately may be helpful in the short-term, but they can have a way of coming back later on.
2. Learn from the situation if possible. When something does not go the way we want it to, it may be easier to dismiss the situation than it is to accept that success did not happen for us in that moment. Learning from the situation can help you move forward with insight and assist you in making future decisions.
3. Try to move forward. Dwelling on the mistakes that may have led to your failures can get in the way of moving forward. No one is immune to failures and dwelling on them does not ‘fix’ the situation or make it better.  
4. Seek help. Experiencing failure is a part of life, and you may find that if you reach out to close family or friends, they may have their own stories to share. Seeking help from a professional such as a psychologist or counsellor may also be helpful, and is a step towards making sense of your feelings and provide tools for you to learn from your failures and move forward.

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References:
Bryant, S. (2019). How different cultures deal with failure. Retrieved from https://countrynavigator.com/blog/cultural-intelligence/failure-across-cultures/
Collins. (2020). Definition of ‘failure’. Retrieved from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/failure
Heine, S. J., Kitayama, S., Lehman, D. R., Takata, T., Ide, E., Leung, C., & Matsumoto, H. (2001). Divergent consequences of success and failure in Japan and North America: An investigation of self-improving motivations and malleable selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(4), 599–615. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.4.599.
Moulton, R. W. (1965). Effects of success and failure on level of aspiration as related to achievement motives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1(5), 399–406. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0021749.
Wilson, R., C., Shenhav, A., Straccia, M., & Cohen, J. D. (2019). The Eighty Five Percent Rule for optimal learning. Nature Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12552-4.