Ian Dawson's Blog - Posts Tagged "embracing-failure"
The Self-Aware Writer - Self-Awareness & Failure
We’ve all failed at things in our lives, but the things we really want, really desire, really strive to achieve, we have to understand and accept that failure is part of the game. Everyone you know, either in your personal life or who is a public figure, has failed at some point in their life. Most people have failed dozens of times.
As a self-aware writer, as a self-aware person, the important thing to remember is failure should be viewed as a learning experience and not as an excuse to give up.
Let’s talk about it.
Accepting Failure
Part of self-awareness is knowing that you’ll face an insurmountable obstacle at some point in your life that feels like you’ve failed. Any number of things could lead to that moment, some within your control and some not in your control. Sometimes we get super close to achieving something, only for the opportunity to be taken away at the last moment. Other times we tried and tried, but things still didn’t work out.
Hey, it happens.
When it comes to your writing career, having the self-awareness to know and accept that the inevitable rejection letter or email will happen is a step toward accepting failure on some level. It doesn’t mean you burn your manuscript or give up writing; you take the loss and try again.
There’s this author some of you may know, Stephen King, whose first novel, Carrie, was rejected by 30 publishers before one finally picked it up. And before that, King himself tossed the novel in the trash, the novel that helped make him a household name and an author who continues to publish multiple novels a year!
Failure has many negative connotations in our society. Still, one thing that isn’t discussed is how failure has to happen for success to happen. Failure is part of the process. And no matter what you do, you have to start from somewhere and work your way up; and failure is just something that happens on the way to the top.
A few months ago, I wrote a review for a book called Chasing Failure by Ryan Leak that I highly recommend. Part of self-awareness is knowing how to utilize failure to your advantage and make it a positive learning experience instead of a catastrophic nightmare.
You Have the Right to Fail, So Allow It To Happen
The obsession with perfection can cause many to not even try. We want to be the best at what we do from the start; the terror of falling flat on our faces and being judged by others can cause analysis paralysis and a sense of doom that prevents us from venturing out of our heads or comfort zones.
But we have to understand that failure is part of life. It’s part of being human. And we have to accept that part of humanity to truly live life and reach for our goals. Failing is another step toward success; you can’t reach your goals without its existence. Don’t fear it.
Learning From Failure
The key to dealing with a failure is to examine why it happened and what you can learn from it. Every failure is a learning experience. Once you can pinpoint why you failed during that attempt, you can reconfigure and try again. You may fail again, but now you have the knowledge to help you make new decisions and choices as you progress toward your goal.
Next Time…
Many of us fear failure, but what about being afraid of success? We’ll talk about it.
Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!
As a self-aware writer, as a self-aware person, the important thing to remember is failure should be viewed as a learning experience and not as an excuse to give up.
Let’s talk about it.
Accepting Failure
Part of self-awareness is knowing that you’ll face an insurmountable obstacle at some point in your life that feels like you’ve failed. Any number of things could lead to that moment, some within your control and some not in your control. Sometimes we get super close to achieving something, only for the opportunity to be taken away at the last moment. Other times we tried and tried, but things still didn’t work out.
Hey, it happens.
When it comes to your writing career, having the self-awareness to know and accept that the inevitable rejection letter or email will happen is a step toward accepting failure on some level. It doesn’t mean you burn your manuscript or give up writing; you take the loss and try again.
There’s this author some of you may know, Stephen King, whose first novel, Carrie, was rejected by 30 publishers before one finally picked it up. And before that, King himself tossed the novel in the trash, the novel that helped make him a household name and an author who continues to publish multiple novels a year!
Failure has many negative connotations in our society. Still, one thing that isn’t discussed is how failure has to happen for success to happen. Failure is part of the process. And no matter what you do, you have to start from somewhere and work your way up; and failure is just something that happens on the way to the top.
A few months ago, I wrote a review for a book called Chasing Failure by Ryan Leak that I highly recommend. Part of self-awareness is knowing how to utilize failure to your advantage and make it a positive learning experience instead of a catastrophic nightmare.
You Have the Right to Fail, So Allow It To Happen
The obsession with perfection can cause many to not even try. We want to be the best at what we do from the start; the terror of falling flat on our faces and being judged by others can cause analysis paralysis and a sense of doom that prevents us from venturing out of our heads or comfort zones.
But we have to understand that failure is part of life. It’s part of being human. And we have to accept that part of humanity to truly live life and reach for our goals. Failing is another step toward success; you can’t reach your goals without its existence. Don’t fear it.
Learning From Failure
The key to dealing with a failure is to examine why it happened and what you can learn from it. Every failure is a learning experience. Once you can pinpoint why you failed during that attempt, you can reconfigure and try again. You may fail again, but now you have the knowledge to help you make new decisions and choices as you progress toward your goal.
Next Time…
Many of us fear failure, but what about being afraid of success? We’ll talk about it.
Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!
Writing Tip of the Week: Embracing Failure
Everyone fails. It’s true. If you know their name, it’s 100% likely that person has failed at some point in their life and/or career. While we may be presented with a polished, public relations-packaged version of that individual, if you dig into their past, you’ll see they were met with failures and disappointments when starting in their profession.
Failure is a part of life. It’s part of the human experience. How we deal with failure and disappointment can lead to either growth and success or giving up and walking away. It can be hard to work on something for months or years only for it not to gain traction or interest once it’s out in public view. It sucks, but it happens.
While it can be challenging to pull yourself out of the perpetual cycle of despair when failure knocks at your door, you must change your perspective and mindset to utilize failure as a helpful tool rather than a hurtful injury.
When failure strikes, step back and ask why you perceive what’s happened as a failure. Are you measuring your successes and failures against those of others? Are you focused too closely on a specific aspect of your work instead of the bigger picture? What’s stopping you from getting back up and trying again? Are you afraid to fail again? Are you chasing the myth of perfection?
If you wrote and self-published a novel, got it on Amazon and other sites, got some good reviews, and didn’t sell a single copy, is that a failure? I’d say you accomplished more than many others have, and now your work is available to be discovered by others. It may not happen overnight, but you will find readers and an audience over time.
Failure will always exist, but how you deal with and work through it will make a huge difference. Maybe that book didn’t sell, but perhaps the next one will. Or the one after that. Keep writing and putting work out there; eventually, you’ll find an audience.
I once saw an interview with author Dan Brown in which he discussed how poorly his first three novels did when they were first published. Even his agent was baffled that they weren’t doing well. Did he give up and stop writing? No.
His fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became an international bestseller. It was then that his previous three novels also became bestsellers. If he had given up, his writing career would have ended with three books, but he didn’t let the failure of the first three stop him. He embraced it, kept working, and motivated himself to write a novel that currently has sold over 80 million copies.
Don’t allow failure to win and dictate what you should and shouldn’t do when being creative. Use your passion, desire, and drive to push through failure, learn from it, and make yourself a stronger writer as a result.
While it’s important to learn from our failures, it’s even more important to accept that those failures are part of the process on the way to success.
Happy Failing, and I’ll see you next time!
Failure is a part of life. It’s part of the human experience. How we deal with failure and disappointment can lead to either growth and success or giving up and walking away. It can be hard to work on something for months or years only for it not to gain traction or interest once it’s out in public view. It sucks, but it happens.
While it can be challenging to pull yourself out of the perpetual cycle of despair when failure knocks at your door, you must change your perspective and mindset to utilize failure as a helpful tool rather than a hurtful injury.
When failure strikes, step back and ask why you perceive what’s happened as a failure. Are you measuring your successes and failures against those of others? Are you focused too closely on a specific aspect of your work instead of the bigger picture? What’s stopping you from getting back up and trying again? Are you afraid to fail again? Are you chasing the myth of perfection?
If you wrote and self-published a novel, got it on Amazon and other sites, got some good reviews, and didn’t sell a single copy, is that a failure? I’d say you accomplished more than many others have, and now your work is available to be discovered by others. It may not happen overnight, but you will find readers and an audience over time.
Failure will always exist, but how you deal with and work through it will make a huge difference. Maybe that book didn’t sell, but perhaps the next one will. Or the one after that. Keep writing and putting work out there; eventually, you’ll find an audience.
I once saw an interview with author Dan Brown in which he discussed how poorly his first three novels did when they were first published. Even his agent was baffled that they weren’t doing well. Did he give up and stop writing? No.
His fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became an international bestseller. It was then that his previous three novels also became bestsellers. If he had given up, his writing career would have ended with three books, but he didn’t let the failure of the first three stop him. He embraced it, kept working, and motivated himself to write a novel that currently has sold over 80 million copies.
Don’t allow failure to win and dictate what you should and shouldn’t do when being creative. Use your passion, desire, and drive to push through failure, learn from it, and make yourself a stronger writer as a result.
While it’s important to learn from our failures, it’s even more important to accept that those failures are part of the process on the way to success.
Happy Failing, and I’ll see you next time!
