Neuroscience Shows How to Turn Failures Into Wins

By Mark R Stephens

Perseverance can turn any perceived failure into a victory; but neuroscience is showing us why some people are able to deal with repeated knock-backs to succeed in the end, and others give up the fight.

Below we look at the nature of challenge and failure, and how people approach it differently, based on a recent scientific study at Rutgers University, New Jersey.

 

Testing the ability to turn failure around

When we approach a task, there are basically two main reasons that can cause us to fail:

  1. The things you can control – like preparation, getting enough rest beforehand etc.
  2. The things you can’t control – like sickness, other people’s behaviour etc.

In order to understand more about this, a neuroscientist from Rutgers University decide to test volunteers using a computer game, where the aim was for players to graduate from a class. Those who succeeded would earn $10, but getting there involved numerous setbacks that returned characters to where they started.

Some of these setbacks players could control (e.g. they got a question wrong) and others they could not (a course was cancelled). Players were asked if they’d like to try again, and they were monitored throughout this process by fMRI, which used blood-flow to indicate activity levels in the brain.

They found that activity dropped off in the ventral striatum – an area of the brain that is important in motivation – when players brushed off a failure that had been within their control.

But when players were faced with something they couldn’t control, the activity dropped in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which affects how we judge risk, control our emotions and make decisions.

In both, the lower the activity the more likely the participant was to try again.

The team repeated their experiment to measure the effects of stress on perseverance. Participants took an ice water bath before playing the game and were physically and mentally stressed. Afterwards, the group that met setbacks they could control still kept trying after they failed. But the group facing setbacks they couldn’t control were more likely to give up.

This suggests that when people are stressed, they are less able to control their emotions, especially if they cannot learn from the experience.

 

How do you prepare for success after failure?

The study highlights that, no matter what the reason for the failure, if we focus on what we can learn from it, we are more likely to persevere and be successful the next time.

If a student fails a test then he or she needs to analyse why – was it lack of study, focusing on the wrong things, or failure to get enough rest?

Likewise, if someone fails at work with, say, getting a report completed on time, was it just due to carelessness or laziness – or was the lack of success due to insufficient training, unrealistic expectations, or were other factors at play? Perhaps they have problems at home, or emotional or family issues?

We need to be both problem-focused and emotion-focused when we analyse what went wrong – and we should also consider the effects of stress on decision-making. We also need to focus on the things we can control. This will help to engender an environment more geared to perseverance and success rather than failure.

 

About

The NeuroPower Group is at the forefront of introducing new approaches to organisational development through the findings of neuroscience. We apply them to all types of businesses, developing high performing teams and enhancing leadership. Find out more at our website: http://www.neuropowergroup.com.