This article is #4 in a series about what I learned/relearned from a week in beautiful Holden Village in July 2024. Read the others here.
“I have not failed. I’ve just discovered 10,000 approaches that won’t be successful.” –Thomas Edison, after failing repeatedly while inventing the lightbulb
During the “Cultivating Joy” workshops at Holden Village, we played a game called “I Failed.”
As author and improv actor Sara McMahon wrote in her “The Playdate Deck,”
“…Improvisation teaches us to view failure as a valuable opportunity. By embracing our mishaps, we can diminish the power that the fear of failure wields over us. One of the easiest ways to do this is to celebrate it!”
During “I Failed,” one person throws their hands up in the air and says, “I failed!” and the other cheers and applauds them. Then you switch turns.
Can you imagine if we all did that in the workplace instead of being ashamed of our failures?
It reminds me of two excellent books:
Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz: about subverting the rejection fear and embracing the no. It’s designed for sales and business, but can be helpful for anyone.
Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection tells Jia Jiang’s story of deliberately looking for ways to get rejected. It made me change the way I look at rejection and risk-taking.
Failure becomes an opportunity for growth when we view it as an important element of creativity and success.
For example, Airbnb initially struggled to gain traction. Instead of quitting, they experimented, continuously refining their business model. By constantly adapting and learning from their failures, Airbnb transformed into a global hospitality giant.
Here are some ways celebrating your failures will boost your creativity:
Encourages risk taking: When failure is seen as a learning opportunity, people are more likely to take risks and explore unconventional ideas.
Makes you grow: Analyzing and celebrating failures helps us to view challenges as opportunities to evolve.
Promotes collaboration: Openly discussing our failures encourages honesty and collaboration. We can learn from each other’s experiences and build on shared insights.
Inspires resilience: Celebrating failure enables us to bounce back from setbacks with renewed energy and creative solutions.
Promotes continuous learning: When we regularly embrace failure, we continuously learn and improve. Continuous learning is vital for sustained creativity and long-term success.
Failure fuels creativity and unlocks new levels of innovation. We might even achieve breakthroughs that seemed impossible before.
We live in a culture where we constantly celebrate success. Social media feeds are filled with accomplishments and perfect photos. In the workplace, no one wants to admit their failures in case it blocks career advancement. But when people feel safe to admit failures without fear of retribution, you can create a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
The next time you make a mistake, think about throwing your hands up in the air with a partner, friend, or colleague and celebrating your failure together!
Reframing your failure as a learning experience will make you more resilient, innovative, and creative.
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I help professional services firms and organizations avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text.
Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified woman-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.
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