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One of the more pernicious misconceptions is that the chances of success are increased if one never considers the possibility of failure. This theme often surfaces in an interview with an individual who has achieved something that is extremely unlikely, such as throwing the winning touchdown pass in the Super Bowl or becoming the next American Idol.
We live in a society that considers failure to be a dirty word. Those of us who remember the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission may recall the words of flight controller Gene Kranz – failure is not an option. While this is a great philosophy if you are trying to bring astronauts safely back to Earth, in the majority of everyday decisions, failing to consider the possibility of failure makes it more likely that you will fail, or that the consequences of failure will be more catastrophic.
I see this continually in school situations. Students set themselves up for failure by not considering the possibility that they might fail. They choose inappropriate majors, overload their schedules with difficult courses, or worse yet, choose a college that is too much of a stretch for their abilities. Time magazine published an article in 2006 listing the colleges attend by the CEOs of the Top 50 Fortune 500 companies. The Ivies were well represented, but one could also find such lesser-known institutes as Stetson University, Quinnipiac College, and North Dakota State. However, every single one of the CEOs had a college degree. In general, there is a much greater difference between the lives of college graduates and those who do not graduate from college than there is between the graduates of an Ivy League school and the graduates of other universities. In choosing a college, making sure that you don’t fail is the first order of business. In order to lessen the chance of failure, you have to be open to the possibility of failure. It’s better to succeed at Stetson than to fail at Yale.
I’m not a psychologist, but I’ve noticed that the great lessons in life always seem to be accompanied by pain. Failure – assuming you survive it – often accelerates learning. We’re in a bad economy at the moment, but sooner or later things will turn around (another great lesson in life), and when it does, you may find yourself faced with several different job interviews. If you have control over the scheduling of these interviews, schedule the interview for the most desirable job interview last. Even if you are experienced at the interview process, the current interview landscape may be different than it was when last you went through the process, and it’s better to fumble an interview for a less-desirable job.
Sooner or later, we all fail. The winners just fail less often, and the consequences of their failures are never catastrophic.
