Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
Entertainment
Greta Jaruševičiūtė

People Share 50 Moments When “There Was An Attempt” But Nothing Else Followed (New Pics)

They say you miss every shot you don't take. But not all of the ones that you do end up on target, either. So in order to not get carried away and keep ourselves grounded, let's take a look at the subreddit 'There Was An Attempt,' shall we?

Its members collect amusing, awkward, and sometimes painful fails at being patriotic, interviewing for a job, and pretty much every other aspect of daily life. If their posts don't reassure you that everyone makes mistakes, I don't know what will!

#1 To Make A Funny Boomer Post Lol

Image credits: El_Vali-de_Michoacan

#2 To Ask Informed Questions

Image credits: BruceInc

"Our fear of failure is something we learn as children," psychologist Dr. Samuel West, who studies corporate behavior, told Bored Panda. "We learn how to react to failure by observing those around us. We learn that failure is negative, it is painful, and that we should avoid it."

These lessons are extensive and quite damaging, but some teachers make them especially persuading. "Growing up influenced by adults that have high anxiety and/or are overly critical and unsupportive makes it much worse," Dr. West added. "At the core, the fear of failure is related to shame and the powerful emotions of being negatively judged by others. When we feel shame we try to hide our perceived wrong-doings, our poor moral decisions, etc."

"The evolutionary function of shame is social control. Society needs social mechanisms to maintain order. As such, the fear of failure makes perfect sense, as a society we don't want people to keep failing and doing things that are detrimental to themselves and society itself."

#3 To Build A Cool Looking Electric Truck

Image credits: Eugene0185

#4 To Understand Depression

Image credits: RelatablePanic

In 2017, Dr. West launched an exhibit in Sweden showcasing flopped products and ideas, to celebrate failure's essential role in innovation and progress. It quickly gained popularity and is now known as 'The Museum of Failure,' a traveling exhibition that has been making its way around the world.

"There is good failure and there is bad failure," he said. And that's why it can be so tricky!

"Bad failure is the kind that is preventable and predictable, it is always bad and should be avoided. Good failure is the type of failure that comes from experimentation and exploration when we try and test new things. Art, science, and tech innovation need the continual taking of risks (risk of failure!) for progress to happen. The same is true for us on a personal level. Without taking meaningful risks we stagnate."

#5 To Sleep Peacefully

Image credits: faelapis

#6 To Be Successful!

Image credits: Content-Command-8845

Dr. Nick Morgan agrees. The founder and CEO of Public Words, a consulting firm specializing in communication skills, describes himself as a recovering perfectionist and believes that the big question when it comes to failure is what can we do with it.

"I can stress out and ruminate endlessly on what went wrong. I can beat myself up for my part in the debacle. I can try to pretend that nothing happened. I've tried each of these over the years, and a few more besides, and I can tell you that they don’t work — of course they don't. And yet, many of us respond these ways over and over again, trapped by our perfectionism," Dr. Morgan told Bored Panda.

"What you need to do instead is to understand what went wrong, as dispassionately as possible, decide what to do differently the next time, and move on. If apologies are in order, make them heartfelt and timely."

#7 To Discipline A Non-Employee

Image credits: BirdRespecter

#8 To Prove Your BF Is Cheating

Image credits: NC_liv3

The key, according to Dr. Morgan, is the part about moving on. "If you don't process the failures cleanly, you'll find yourself like a ship with its hull covered in barnacles, moving slower and slower, unable to navigate gracefully through the waters ahead," said the author of Can You Hear Me?: How to Connect with People in a Virtual World.

"Worse, the next time you’re speaking, and the moment looks weirdly like the failure moment to your unconscious mind – which never forgets, especially pain – you will find yourself suddenly distracted at the very least by your brain saying, 'Oh-oh! Things are about to go horribly wrong!' That will compound the agony, and matters will quickly get worse."

#9 To Be Body Positive

Image credits: stefan_stuetze

#10 To Poach

Image credits: CantStopPoppin

The good thing is that "while the failure itself is a negative experience (it is embarrassing, expensive, painful, etc.) the results can and often are very positive," Dr. Samuel West added.

In fact, he highlighted that recovering from our failures has been becoming an increasingly hot research topic.

"One thing that we know is that people need perspective on their failures, to understand that while it is painful, the effects are limited. This quote by Jon Sinclair explains it very well: 'Failure is a bruise. Not a tattoo.' When we make an effort to reflect on what has happened and accept responsibility we can learn from them — this is the best way to recover."

"When you understand that failure is the empty spaces in-between success, that failure is just the other side of the coin of success, then recovering from failure is easier. I advise my clients that they should focus more on 'failure recovery' than on 'failure avoidance.' Once you train your ability to recover from small and larger failures you realize that there is not much to fear."

#11 To Act Like You Belong

Image credits: Sunlight_Sword

#12 To Relate To A Girl’s Photo

Image credits: Trumps_Cum_Dumpster

Dr. Nick Morgan also mentioned a study from 2011 that he recently ran across finds that acceptance and self-compassion, positive reframing, and humor are the three most effective ways to deal with failure.

"These are techniques I can get behind, even though I’m not great at them," he said.

Acceptance and self-compassion are the basics of moving on from failure. According to Dr. Morgan, you will know best how to talk to yourself, but some form of acceptance and forgiveness of yourself as a unique, valuable, fabulous human being is vital. "There are many books, online courses, and psychologists out there ready to help. Do the work; it’s important. As the self-help cliché has it, the airplane safety talk is right: put on your own oxygen mask first," he explained.

#13 To Understand Basic Data

Image credits: maclunkey91

#14 To Educate And Have Fun ?

Image credits: HumanRightsAdv

Next, positive reframing can help make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. "The idea here is to find something, anything that did go well or can be spun into a positive," he said. "Don’t fool yourself, but don’t overdo the doom and gloom in the first flush of failure, either. As a wise person ... shared with me once, it’s the broken places where the light comes in."

And lastly, as these pictures illustrate, humor. "Laughing at yourself is a great gift; lightness allows you to rise above the slough of despond and sail on serenely," Dr. Morgan said. Although, "laughing at others’ pratfalls is something I leave to your discretion."

"The point is that once you can laugh at failure it is no longer terminal. You are ready to move on."

#15 To Push Someone's Head Into The Cake

Image credits: Practical_Result_916

#16 To Give “Smart” Advice

Image credits: Ok-Industry-3268

#17 To Sext Politely

Image credits: Substantial-Bat-9572

#18 To Fake Your Survival Video

Image credits: lpomoeaBatatas

#19 To Catch A Terrorist

Image credits: overreaIz

#20 To Disrespect Mike Tyson

Image credits: bhavsarharsh

#21 To Get A Date

Image credits: [deleted]

#22 To Embarrass Stephen King

Image credits: Ok_Acadia3526

#23 To Spell Properly

Image credits: Honest-Internal-187

#24 To Not Show Bias

Image credits: mhjsa

#25 To Read And Persuade People That You Are Smarter Than 85.69% Of The Population

Image credits: lpomoeaBatatas

#26 To Collect $1.3 Million

Image credits: butmuhfreedoms

#27 To Win A Girl Over

Image credits: AvonBarksdale666

#28 To Convert Someone To Veganism

Image credits: MoonDustAllergy

#29 To Be Patriotic

Image credits: PiPopoopo

#30 Attempt To Pay Respect

Image credits: Slygirl997

#31 To Get A New Job

Image credits: ONDickson_

#32 At A Sign: My Town Is Getting A New Wa Houfflese. We're Pretty Pumped

Image credits: nellywaters

#33 To Be Politically Correct

Image credits: Entire_Car_1852

#34 To Predict The Future

Image credits: SwanExtension7974

#35 To Get A Tattoo That Looks Like The Picture

Image credits: devnull10

#36 To Stay Retired

Image credits: ImpressiveBook3744

#37 To Fight Misinformation

Image credits: joelman0

#38 To Be Funny

Image credits: weird_potato123

#39 To Prevent People Taking Your Nft

Image credits: lpomoeaBatatas

#40 To Do Something Impossible

Image credits: CLIFFjumper05

#41 To Manufacture Consent For Endless War

Image credits: north_canadian_ice

#42 To Be Taken Seriously

Image credits: ChungusMcFunkopop

#43 To Enshrine The Most Fascistic, Traitorous Bullshit I've Ever Witnessed In My Life Into Law

Image credits: JasonOverstreet

#44 To Argue With Fans

Image credits: Content_Artichoke_17

#45 To Use The Disney Font

Image credits: OffWeGoIntoTheWildBY

#46 To Defend Drake

Image credits: Windermerefan

#47 To Sell A Cyber Truck In Denver

Image credits: farmertypoerror

#48 To Ask People To Not Eat On The Carpet

Image credits: kTfanboy

#49 To Get A 20% Tip. We Had Three Glasses Of Water And Three Drinks. The Server Scribbled Over The Lesser Percentage Options And Circled What Was Expected

Image credits: godless_1

#50 To Make A Visual Representation Of Angles

Image credits: MildlyGeriatric

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.