Losing Can Lead to Success

By Paige Johnson Assistant Executive Director Defiance County Economic Development

This article is sponsored by Ohio Means Jobs of Defiance County

Paige with her daughter Scarlette at her University of Toledo Graduation (Bachelor's in Business Management & Marketing)

IS LOSING MORE IMPORTANT THAN WINNING?

Often the thought of losing is enough to make a person feel sick. The last thing we want to do is feel disappointment, sadness, and dissatisfaction within ourselves. But what if losing is more important than winning?

To learn from our mistakes and bring our flaws to light, failure must occur. If failure never occurs, how can one begin to become even better? But what does failure look like? For me, failure happened while I was going through nursing college.

Nursing school has higher requirements than most majors. I thought it would be simple to reach, until anatomy. My first swing at taking the class, I fell just short. I passed the class, but not well enough to be a nurse. That failure made me really reevaluate if becoming a nurse was something that I really wanted to do. It taught me humbleness.

TV shows and movies depict life as being easy. Heck, even Elle Woods made it into Harvard Law School. Not to mention being in a generation that relied heavily on the magic of Disney, it was amazingly easy to fall into that “life is a piece of cake” mentality. But for me now, I realize you cannot just focus on one piece, you must focus on the whole dang cake! Because that is where failure lives. But it is also where new potential lies.

Paige Johnson- Assistant Executive Director

Failing anatomy class is not the only failure I have experienced in my life. But it was one that pushed me onto a new life trajectory. So, think to yourself, what failure in your life did that to you too? Think about what you learned from that failure and how you overcame it. As Bill Gates once said, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they cannot lose.” Bill Gates is known as being one of the richest men in the world and he too failed at college. He dropped out of Harvard Law and chose to take a different route. Now because of that failure we have Microsoft.

And he is not the only millionaire or billionaire that has had a similar route. Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, J.K Rowling, and so many more failed and then turned that failure into a lesson and that lesson into success. So, if you are currently facing a potential failure in your career path, do not let it break you. Stay humble and find a way to come back ten times stronger. And for those who have not yet made it to adulthood or the workforce, find a mentor who can help guide you through the failures. Because we all have failures and there is no better person to help you through it than someone who has already done it.

Our office can help you find a new career today. We have local mentors to guide you. You can check them out on our website today: www.defiancecountyed.com/mentorship.  Also, our office has a great partner in Ohio Means Jobs of Defiance County where their tools can help assess and place you in a new position, you love.

Hey, I transitioned from nursing to economic development. At the time, I thought I was failing by not continuing with nursing, but it turns out, another career path was waiting for me. Let me help find your next job that will be the one you love. Email me at Paige@DefianceCountyED.com .