How to turn setbacks into career assets by reframing failure.
One of the easiest ways to clear out a room is "today, I'd like to spend a little time talking about failure."
Still here?
Great, because failure, specifically the fear of it, is a big motivator. So, it's worth talking about.
We do all kinds of interesting things to avoid failing.
We believe failure proves we aren't good enough. But there are more productive ways to frame failure.
Daniel Pink, in The Power of Regret, encourages us to leverage our regrets to:
Improve decision-making
Strengthen performance
Find deeper meaning
When we handle it properly, regret can make us better. Understanding its effects hones our decisions, boosts our performance, and bestows a deeper sense of meaning. ~Daniel Pink, The Power of Regret
A better way to think about failure.
There's another valuable way to reframe failure.
Failures are part of what makes us unique.
Consider Peter Attia.
Peter Attia didn't like school early in life. But he loved math and science and eventually found his way to medical school. He finished med school and was selected for a prestigious residency at Johns Hopkins.
He seemed to be on the path to great success and wealth as a physician. But toward the end of his residency, he became disillusioned.
Much to the dismay of friends and family, he dropped out of medical school and joined McKinsey.
This sounds like the end of his dream. A failure.
He spent years of his life on one path, put on the brakes, turned 90 degrees, and pursued a completely different path. But this change allowed him to develop a new perspective on medicine.
He realized that modern medicine focuses on prolonging life. It’s not necessarily concerned with preserving quality of life. We live longer lives, but for many, the end of our lives are diminished.
With this in mind, he left McKinsey and founded a clinic focused on longevity and quality of life.
Earlier this year, he published Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.
It's been on the New York Times Best Sellers list for 29 weeks.
What seemed like a failure is part of what makes him unique.
What if he'd continued down the well-beaten path to success in medicine? Who knows? He may have been just as successful and impactful as he is today. But the world would haven't THIS Peter Attia and his contributions.
The same is true for you and me.
We each have a success story. We also have failure stories. They're all the same story.
They are part of what makes us unique.
Consider
What are the biggest setbacks or changes in direction in your life and career?
What unique perspectives do these create for you?
How can these perspectives be career assets?