Interesting question that I came across the Internet today (aka. Quora). It’s funny to me that we are so obsessed with failure and success these days, I mean, I’m not excluding myself. This question seems so deep and thought provocative, but it has such incongruity that makes me a bit uncomfortable (not to the point of anger, but rather, WTF does this question mean?)
One become successful when one achieves what she/he AIMS to achieve (or at least that’s how I define success). And one fails when she/he DOESN’T achieve it. So to say “become successful at failure” means, she/he aims to fail, and eventually does fail, therefore succeeds in her/his objectives.
Well yeah then it does make a slightly bit of sense, but it’s still hilarious. We don’t like to admit that we didn’t get what we want, so we brag about how our failure was intentional, but most of the time, it happens due to factors that are beyond our scope of control, or rather, we did not have enough capacity to pursue it. Yet, lying defeated does not mean that we can’t say I’m FINE. If you can face the sky and say that you are successful at failing, sure, please go ahead and enjoy the fruits. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it.
But the act of giving up itself is not because of your strength; Instead, it’s driven by the lack of it, or so-called your weakness. It’s hard to entertain the thought of giving up just because you want to fail more than become successful at your tasks, but in the context of being intentional, perhaps it would make more sense. If you CHOOSE to fail for the sake of long term winning, or so that some of your colleagues would thrive instead of you, or for the sake of experimenting hardship, then sure, once you give up, it’s already a failure. Terming it as a success only makes notable sense if you intentionally choose to pursue the downfall of yourself, and for that, if it brings you any good, perhaps you should be honored.
Qbooz 