Failure Is Hard. Learning From It May Be Harder

“Learning from failure is important, yet it does not happen on its own. Rather, it is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced, which takes effort. In a recent (2022) paper, the researchers Lauren Eskreis-Winkler (Northwestern University) and Ayelet Fishbach (University of Chicago) argue that most people are highly resistant to learning from their failures, and that when they do, they often learn the wrong things. The authors argue that our difficulty in learning well from failure has two main reasons: emotional and cognitive. However, training ourselves to overcome the emotional and cognitive barriers that prevent us from reflecting honestly on our failures is bound to improve our odds of success.

To overcome our cognitive barriers, the authors propose several strategies. One is reframing the problem to eliminate our aversion to learning from failure. If the goal of the experience is learning, rather than success, then failure is an opportunity for learning, and hence aligned with the goal. “A failed experience is a success when the goal is learning.” Additionally, research has shown that loss frames (you will lose money if you make a mistake) reduce the fear of learning from failure, as compared to gain frames (you’ll win money for the right answer). Another strategy involves eliminating concurrent tasks that may overload our attentional focus. It’s easier to pay attention to failure when we don’t have five other things to do at the same time. Putting more time and practice toward the task of learning from failure is also useful in overcoming barriers. You are more likely to learn when you have time for—and training in—learning. This is true for failure as it is for most anything else.

Key Points

• Failure tends to injure our ego and violate our beliefs and expectations. Thus, it is often denied, dismissed or ignored.
• An inability to learn from failure reduces the odds of future success.
• Learning from failure does not happen on its own. Rather, it is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced.”

Read the whole article at Psychology Today

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