Redefining Failure

Failure as data, not identity

One of the keys to developing resilience is to decouple our personal value from the results of our projects.

Often, when a project fails, the internal narrative tends to be "I am a failure," merging the individual's identity with the external event.

It is vital to reframe this perception by adopting a "growth mindset," as suggested by psychologist Carol Dweck.

In this light, a difficult task or adverse outcome is not a judgment on our fixed ability, but a learning opportunity that provides us with valuable information about our current competencies.

The error should be viewed simply as a neutral piece of data: it tells us what strategy did not work and where adjustment is required, without passing moral judgment on the person who executed the action.

Understanding that we are much larger and more complex than any single project allows us to maintain emotional integrity even when the results are not as expected.

The experimentation mentality

To reduce the paralyzing fear of getting it wrong, it is helpful to approach changes and challenges as "experiments" rather than definite lifetime commitments.

By framing a new action-such as testing a new skill or changing a routine-as a data-gathering phase or a "micro-change," the pressure to make it perfect is drastically reduced.

If we treat our initiatives as small test labs, the "negative" result ceases to be a failure and becomes a personal scientific finding: "now I know this doesn't work this way".

This perspective encourages curiosity and allows us to pivot quickly without the emotional weight of disappointment, facilitating calculated risk-taking and personal innovation.

Humility vs. Humiliation

Failure has an essential regulatory function: it connects us to our humanity.

However, there is a critical distinction between feeling humble and feeling humiliated.

Humility is a virtue that allows us to recognize that we are not the center of the universe or infallible beings, keeping ego and perfectionism in check.

The impostor syndrome, on the contrary, pushes us towards self-humiliation, where fallibility is lived with shame and concealment.

By accepting error with humility, we can redirect our time and energy toward what really matters, such as caring for others or volunteering, recognizing that our importance is relati