Does Failure Exist?

When considering fears and anxieties, many people will mention a fear of failure.

But what is failure? Is it something to fear? And more controversially, does it really exist?

My instinct is that failure is merely the non-achievement of a goal or task. I haven't looked "failure" up in a dictionary, nor contemplated its potentially variable and individual-specific definitions within its possible role as an essentially contested concept.

That's because this is a blog, not a philosophy seminar.

The non-achievement of a goal or task

Nearly all goals and tasks are either self made or adopted by an individual from social norms and expectations. That is, we set goals - to get an A level or a job, for instance - and in some cases, we create these goals because we think they will make us happy. In other cases, we carry out tasks set for us either by an authority who is demanding it, or because of the pressure to conform to what is "normal".

This distinction is irrelevant: whether we invent our own tasks or they come from external sources, these are not real things that have intrinsic worth. They are only important in that we decide them so.

The only non-socially constructed (natural) tasks are those of survival and reproduction.

Yet dying is rarely considered an act of failure. Nor should we call someone a failure if they do not bear children. Particularly for a species that is more concerned about over population than extinction.

Whilst bearing children (and not dying for that matter) may be extremely important goals to many people, they are not intrinsically necessary.

People will die regardless and we don't blame them for it. Even in the case of suicide and extreme recklessness, it is important to understand the biological and circumstantial factors over which they had no control.

Now I'm not saying we shouldn't fear death. Just that dying isn't a failure. And if dying isn't, what is?

The fear of failure can be overcome by the simple realisation that it doesn't exist, except as a construct in your mind.

We were not put on this earth to do anything. We have evolved to propagate our DNA, but we needn't. We have inbuilt desires to survive, but we won't.

Goals and aspirations are all well and good, although the acceptance that "more or less everything is absolutely fine" (Derren Brown) is more conducive to happiness. Even in cases where getting that degree or promotion does bring happiness, the failure to do so is not a failure at all. It is just another fact of life, devoid of value.

A shift in how we think about these things, could be the key to removing some of our greatest fears and anxieties.