BY JAMIE GOODLET
A while back, I crashed my department’s fire truck into the firehouse as I was pulling out of the station while responding to a house fire. I scraped the truck along the garage door, where there is about an inch of clearance on either side of the truck. I did a number to both the side of the truck and the garage door.
I tried to maintain a positive attitude despite the mishap, reminding myself that everybody fails. Thomas Edison failed at inventing the light bulb nearly 6,000 times. In fact, Edison is quoted as saying, “I haven’t failed 6,000 times; I just found 6,000 ways that haven’t worked.” A few turns later, we went to the shop to get the truck looked at. Our mechanic noticed my bang-up job right away and proceeded to bust my chops. I’ve got thick skin, but looking for a little understanding and support, I told him the Edison story, to which he exclaimed, “That’s what all the losers say!” Now, I have come to expect these friendly verbal beatings from fellow fire service members, but the situation got me thinking: Why do I make mistakes on a monthly if not weekly basis while others seem to live a charmed fire service existence? As it turns out, I’m not making mistakes for the reasons that I thought.
As the title of this article implies, those who work hard are bound to fail at some point. I argue that this is the source of my frequent troubles-not, as some jokingly contend, a lack of intelligence. It makes sense that the more you perform a task, the better you become at that task. It is also true, however, that the more you do something, the more opportunity you have to mess it up. The bottom line is that those who work hard and actively participate are at greater risk of “jacking things up” than those who avoid work and responsibility. Failure doesn’t always mean that you’re doing something wrong; sometimes it just means that you are “doing.” Following are some practical suggestions for dealing with failure when it comes knocking at your door and explanations of how to clean up after the “failure tornado” has ripped through your emotional “trailer park.”
First things first: EVERYONE fails. Some of the world’s greatest politicians, athletes, and innovators have struggled with failure. A few examples follow:
- Michael Jordan-cut from his high school basketball team.
- Abraham Lincoln-failed in business twice and lost eight elections.
- The Beatles-passed over by record labels.
- Walt Disney-fired from his job as a newspaper reporter.
- Albert Einstein-teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything.
Unfortunately, failure is part of the journey toward long-term success. The successes of all great people were built on a foundation of mishaps, misfortune, and misery. In a way, it is comforting to know that failure is inevitable and universal; I’m not the first person who has experienced failure, and I won’t be the last. With that understood, how do successful people overcome adversity and failure?
Successful people ask “how” rather than “why.” When you ask, “Why did this happen to me?” you make yourself a victim; you anchor yourself to a past that cannot be changed. Asking “why” is a reactive emotional response. Instead, look for a proactive, practical solution by asking, How can I make fewer mistakes? When I do make mistakes, how can I learn from them? How can I use them to make me a better person, parent, spouse, firefighter?
After answering the “how” questions, the next-and one of the most important-thing you can do is “get back on that horse.” We use this saying to encourage others. However, we tend not to take our own advice and let failure push us around. After crashing the fire truck, I was scheduled to drive again and was faced with a decision: to drive or not to drive. The answer, for me, was to drive. By getting back behind the wheel, I faced my fears head on and regained my confidence. I refused to let my past failures paralyze my future.
Also, try to use distractions. Not all distractions are bad; sometimes when things aren’t going particularly great, distractions can keep you sane. It is unhealthy to dwell on your mistakes, and distractions give your emotions a break. Exercise, spend some time training, or debate politics with the members at the firehouse-anything to help you forget your failures! Giving your emotions a chance to regroup is beneficial, even if just for a little while.
Shame, embarrassment, and guilt often follow disappointment and failure. These are not easy emotions to work through, but it is possible to do so. It helps to realize that almost no one remembers your failures in the long term. Your life story may be filled with mistakes, and there will always be naysayers talking about you in a negative way, which can be hurtful (firehouse gossip won’t kill you; it will just make you wish you were dead). However, most people tend to seek out and remember your positives, focusing on your accomplishments rather than your failures.
Think of a football game where one team is taking a beating for three quarters only to come back in the fourth quarter and win the game. No one remembers the three quarters of atrocious play; it’s the comeback we relish!
Last, you must enhance your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. There are some things you are inherently good at and other things that you’re not. It’s your job to know and work within your strengths and avoid your weaknesses. Since I have a crooked eye, I’m not going to apply to be an eye model. However, I am very comfortable speaking in front of large crowds. Even though I’m good at public speaking, it doesn’t mean that I won’t ever fail at it; it only means that I am working within my personal strength and am giving myself the best chance for success. I have done my fair share of failing, but I have also done my fair share of getting up! Failure is my enemy, but it’s also the competition that motivates me to stay on my “A” game.
As people from every background, religion, and culture have found, victory is yours if you want it bad enough. It’s yours if your goals and dreams are more important than feeling sorry for yourself. It’s yours by doing what you may not always want to do. It’s yours if you realize that where you are going is more important than where you have been. Sure, failure is going to win a round here and there, but the only thing that matters in the match of life is whose hand is raised in victory at the final bell.
Failure doesn’t always mean that you’re doing something wrong; sometimes it just means that you are “doing.”
JAMIE GOODLET is a 14-year fire service veteran working in northeast Ohio. He received a lifesaving award in 2004 and a medal of valor in 2009 and in 2010. Goodlet is a rescue specialist with Ohio Task Force 1 and a founder/co-owner of the training group FireGround Fundamentals, LLC, which focuses on “making the basics better.”
Fire Engineering Archives
