10 Lessons for Women by Women: Failure is impossible

“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure towards success.”  ~  Dorothea Brande

When all is said and done, if you do your best, it is really impossible to fail.  You may think you have failed in what you set out to do, but if you take the value from the experience, there is no failure.  Which leads me to ask:  what is the definition of failure?  I know that if I ask this question to women, I could probably get a thousand and one different definitions of missing the mark.  I think women are inherently hard on themselves – they expect a lot from themselves and expect to do it all. 

Failing at a task is in not trying; or not taking the action you know is necessary.  Other than that, failure is in how you think about it.  When Thomas Edison was asked a question about trying to make the light bulb a thousand times and failing, he answered that he hadn’t failed – he had just discovered a thousand ways not to make it (well, this is paraphrased but it’s the gist of what he said!).  For him it was impossible to fail.  And this is a lesson I think that girls and women especially need to learn - make failure impossible and it takes the fear away.  Then begin and take action – whatever the outcome, you will be closer to where you are supposed to be.