Alain de Botton in his TED talk; a kinder, gentler philosophy of success, describes how he thinks that people feel less successful, and more like failures due to mislabeling somebody as a failure when hey have simply failed at something. I chose to watch this TED talk from the title because the title felt like something that applies to me personally. I often get really down on myself, feeling like a failure, so I thought that watching the talk might give me a different perspective and show me that my goals might just be too high.
The talk did not describe how goals are to high, however I still agree with the message it was trying to put across. In his talk, Alain de Botton talks about how people in our societies jump too readily to label people as failures. He talks about how failure used to be viewed as tragic, and unfortunate as opposed to being viewed as being a failure or a loser. I really think that this is an important message to get across because this way of thinking not only has people bringing others down, but it nurtures a self-deprecating attitude in people. When people read in the news papers about how millionaires and entrepreneurs are being called failures for small mistakes, It makes them question themselves as well. If somebody who they view to be more successful than them is being called a failure, what does that make them?
Botton talks about this in more detail as well. He talks about how societies today really strongly emphasize how everyone is equal. He says this creates a stronger sense of envy because people who have achieved more in life seem a lot closer. He also describes how envy becomes a stronger emotion when we feel close to someone; saying how somebody may not envy the queen of England for example, because she is not relatable. Alain de Botton says that this it is bad to have societies where we believe people who are talented deserve success, and it is bad to create a society where everyone is relatable because of the immense sense of envy it can bring about. I do not agree with his perspective on this however, because I believe that ency can be helpful to a certain extent. If we implement the previous philosophy of failure, instead of people feeling like losers when they are envious, it will drive people to achieve more so that they can be like the people they look up to;
This talk did not really make me reflect on my future, however i think it will make me approach things with a different view. I will really try to implement the philosophy of failure being unfortunate, or a matter of circumstance, because I feel it will make failure much easier to swallow, so that I can try again. Usually when I experience a failure I do not make another attempt, or I am discouraged from trying again in the future because I take it as a hit to my self-esteem. However, if I apply this philosophy of failure, it will lower the weight of my failures and make it easier to try again, and even fail multiple times.
Personally, I would recommend this talk to friends, people who experience or feel like failures, or even anybody in general. I say this because I that society as a whole could benefit from a softened view of failure. If looked at failure as an unfortunate circumstance, rather than looking down on it, it would reduce the fear of failure and cause people to be more courageous and take more risks. By embracing failure instead of shunning it, i feel that it will make life easier for everyone, and those around them.