Random Thoughts on Failure and Bouncing Back

Posted by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen Nov 10, 2006

How do you know if you're obsessed with something, or simply determined to achieve? Some people are addicted to the thrill of success, just like others are addicted to shopping, eating, or smoking.

For instance -- the more I write, the more I love it - my hubby calls me a "write-aholic". I think I'm simply a writer. I've failed so many times - not getting published, not winning contests or even a rejection letter - and yet I can't give it up!

Yet, failure is valuable.

Here's what J.K. Rowling said about failure: “Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged,” she said at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. “I was set free [by failure], because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." For ways to bounce back based on her words, read 5 Ways to Build Resiliency.

Failure is more valuable of course if you knew why you failed. For example, was it my poor sentence structure, lousy ideas, or bad timing that lead to all those publisher's rejections? But, even if I don't know the exact problem, I can still see my mistakes and the areas in which I need to improve.

Failure does provide opportunity and can be motivational - as corny as that sounds! Learning how to fail and bounce back is the best way to succeed in life. And so is being addicted to the thrill of achieving your goals.

These were just some random thoughts on failure and bouncing back.....if you have any of your own, please feel free to comment below!