In response to Louise’s blog post Redefining Failure, she says, “failure isn’t a singular definition we all share , it’s personal.”
Her post nudged me to look up the meaning of failure, and this definition is what popped up: “the neglect or omission of expected or required action.” I guess failure outcomes are measured by someone’s external expectation or standard.
Yes perhaps some of the paths we imagined have not always unfolded the way we envision, or the milestones we set don’t arrive in the timeline we expect. Someone , or even we ourselves set the bar. . We fall below that.. Then that is what is said to be failure. In formal systems like schools, failure is defined by set metrics as (grades or pass marks.)
How then would I redefine failure? For me, this acronym provides a meaningful way to go about it.
F.A.I.L.U.R.E.
Feedback
Awareness
Insight
Liberation
Unlocking
Realignment
Expansion
As I look at the word FAILURE, I see FAIL + LURE. I will be reminded that failure is merely a challenge to break free from that lure of the failing mindset. And then there is the acronym: Finding Awareness, Insight, Liberation , Unlocking the Lessons to Re-align oneself, and voilà that would take us to the opposite end of the failure shadow…
Perhaps let us call it EXPAND + SURE.
From falling for the lure to standing sure in our expansion.
“…the neglect or omission of expected or required action.”
Interesting! And I love your acronyms. It’s giving me a framework to explore both sides. Or maybe three sides? When we measure ourselves, when others measure us, and when we measure others.
And what it means when one’s FAIL + LURE has a negative effect on the other.
Yes at the end of the day, we are all interconnected , through our actions, inactions, our silence, and our choices. AND a lot of breakthroughs, personal shifts, or successes are born from what looked like or were “fail+Lures”