The Importance of Failure in Life

I joined the Navy in 1975 as a designated “non-swimmer”, which is to say, I could not swim, at all. Why would someone who could not swim join the Navy, you ask? Well, telling my recruiter I could not swim did not deter him from recruiting me, and my combined GCT/ARI score of 111 assured me that I could be just about anything I wanted to be in the Navy. Arriving at Boot Camp in San Diego, California, July of 1975, and having been assigned a “non-swim” status, I had to report to the Naval Training Center pool everyday to learn to swim.

I could not swim, at all

The standard at that time was to tread water for a minimum of 5 minutes and swim 500 yards in order to receive the designation of 3rd Class Swimmer, which would have allowed me to be assigned to an company to begin my actual basic training in earnest.

I languished in that temporary “non-swim” status for 4 days, until finally I was able to pass the 3rd Class Swimmer test. In my non-swim company I was the first to qualify, and was promptly assigned to Company 187 in training group 29.

Sometimes out of what looks like failure comes opportunity

Since companies were being formed daily there at the Naval Training Center, had I arrived as a qualified swimmer from day one, I would have been assigned to a company other than 187 -- perhaps 185 or 186. What is so important about that, you ask? Turns out that Company 187 became the most decorated company in our training group, earning multiple awards, and on our graduation day I was a member of the most distinguished company in the Battalion. To this day, I have fond memories of Company 187 and the camaraderie I established with my fellow sailors-in-training during those eventful 8 weeks in July of 1975.

This was the beginning of a very successful 21 year Naval career. Sometimes out of what looks like failure comes opportunity, as it had with my experience at basic training.

We are not perfect

You see, when we succeed or when we are given promotions, awards, letters of appreciation, bonuses and other accolades that denote success by world’s-standards, we are rarely compelled to look back introspectively on what we have accomplished. Why should we? We are getting the job done, receiving excellent evaluations, and generally life is good. We don’t question the success. We just continue doing more of the same, until what? Until that doesn’t happen for us anymore! Eventually something will change. Others might begin to be recognized in ways that we used to, and rather than celebrating our colleagues’ successes, we may become resentful and bitter.

When we examine ourselves rigorously and take the time to be reflective, we may find that we have made some mistakes, and there have been some failures on our part. If and when we are able to take an honest look at ourselves, we may actually learn something that we never saw before when we were enjoying all the success: we are not perfect. We are going to make mistakes. It is a part of life and the learning process of almost anything new that we are endeavoring to learn.

Imagine a world where we are not fearful of making mistakes

Our failures and our mistakes can be a learning point, a tool, a cue that we might need to make some changes. If we are able to do that without fear, anxiety, and self-judgment creeping in, we actually have an opportunity to be better, to re-create ourselves, and perhaps be even better than we were before.

Imagine a world where we are not fearful of making mistakes because we have made them before and were able to comeback, sometimes multiple times. How creative might we be in that world? Which people would now want to be a part of the “unit” that we are in?

Failure is important, because it is one of the best teachers of all time. We just need to learn how to harness it and allow it to propel us into future successes. Winston Churchill was quoted as saying: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”

May you not lose yours!