In our life, we have different kinds of fears, but for me, one of the biggest fear is the fear of failure. It appears in different aspects of my life from study and my career. When I was a student I fear that I would make a mistake in my test. During my work, I fear that I will make mistakes during my work, which leads me hesitant to take action.
However, a study of sixth graders in France — in the book Make It Stick by Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel, and Peter C Brown — has totally changed my perception of failure.
In the study, two groups of students were assigned to do two tests. After this first test, one group of the student was educated that failure and errors on the test are the most important aspect in learning and it is a good sign for students because it let students know where they were struggling and could be improved. Additionally, students were also taught that their intelligence can increase by putting effort to practice. The other group wasn’t told anything. When they did the second test, the educated group had a better performance.
According to the scientists, when during the test, “working memory” was trying to solve the problem. Nonetheless, under the stress of testing, the “working memory” expanded and was trying to avoid mistakes (How am I doing? Am I making mistakes?) which distract the student from creativity and risk-taking. Therefore, the second group’s performance was debilitated.
In our life, when we try to perfect everything but it actually counterintuitive because failure is the most efficient way of study because it gives feedback for us to improve. On top of that, it is also a sign that we’re making effort if we were making effort in our study which means that we would make progress. Therefore, instead of considering failure as an obstacle, we need to think of it as a guide.
