In this issue, I would like to talk about failing at work.
In Japan, there often seems to be a tendency to believe that “failure is bad. Some data show that among developed countries, Japan has the strongest tendency toward this belief. Is failure such a bad thing? If failure is such a bad thing, is success such a good thing? I had a chance to think about that today, and I would like to write about it here.
As a matter of fact, some people even say that a job that fails is the same as having done nothing, and I have learned (and I have seen it around me) that surprisingly, there are far more people who think that way than I think.
In conclusion, I think that is a rhetorical question. And it is also mentally unhealthy in that it can be hard on you. In general, there seems to be a tendency to think that failure is a bad thing, and I wonder why. And why is such an outlandish argument made? I will try to explain below. The theme of my first post in a while is “Failure, Growth, and Success.
First of all, if the work is done right from the start, the word “growth” is not as important as it is now. Growth or rewarding is growing from something you can’t do to being able to do it. If you had a string of successes from the beginning, you wouldn’t have to struggle in your job or in the rest of your life. Everyone starts out as a nobody.
If you can do everything at that time, then you have already become someone. Because one cannot, one strives to become able to. If failing is seen as a bad thing, then that is an organization that is not growing.
And such an argument is not a small one. It is detrimental to the health of the individual. Think about it. A job ultimately failed. And if my boss said to me, “You didn’t do any work,” I would probably resign that very day.
The point I am trying to make here is that there are things you can’t do despite your best efforts. That is why we need to keep trying until our efforts are rewarded. There are often people in the laboratory who judge things based on whether they are a failure or a success, and I think such people are more likely to fall into a state of depression. Research is something that can only be done after many attempts. Therefore, from the perspective of a researcher, “0 or 100 points” is an unthinkable thought.
What is important is to think about “measures to prevent recurrence” at the time of failure. And that too, as soon as you realize that you are going to fail. Do not wait for them to say, “I failed, I will be careful next time. I want to hear the words, “I made a mistake, so I will take steps to correct it. I think that people who don’t learn from their mistakes are zero points, and it’s perfectly fine to make mistakes.
Also, those who treat such failures as zero points should learn mathematics for once. Basically, mathematics requires solving with the thought process of “think of a way to release ~~, and if it doesn’t work, think of a way to solve ~~. But even so, mistakes can still be made. What I am trying to say is that even if you gather all your thoughts and think about it, you can still make mistakes. In fact, such training can be done for science and English problems.
Why not make up for it, learn that there are new possibilities, and make use of them the next time and have success come somewhere else? It is important to think in order not to fail, and that is important, very important, but it is even more important to think about what possibilities we should consider when we fail and connect them to the next step.
By the way, in this case, I don’t think it is a failure, just an error. So when an undergraduate student fails in an experiment, I say, “That was an error, now think about what to do next time. Where there is no failure, there is no success.
Of course, success does not mean that everything is, or is 100 points. It is true that we have succeeded in our work. However, I think people who do not find areas that can be improved are foolish. There is rarely a perfect job. It would be a waste to abandon the need to improve to 96 points. Also, an organization will not move forward if such failures are regarded as a bad thing.
Perhaps (and I can’t say as I have no experience working as a full-time employee), salary incentives should be given in the following order: those who have succeeded and continue to grow further, those who have succeeded, those who have acted, and those who have done nothing.
Well, after writing that, I think that in this day and age, the company is embedded in the life cycle of the individual, and the company is not everything, but part of it. I don’t think we should despise failure or be overconfident of success. I would like to value the word growth more.
