Embrace Failure

You are not alone if you think that failure has to be the end of your dream. Thousands upon thousands of people venture into the unknown hoping that they will succeed only to be hurled back to the ground banged and bruised. For these people, failure in their venture or their attempt to do something more or better with their life only resulted in reaffirming that they shouldn't had even dared to dream outside of their current box.

But, what is so sad to note is that many, probably thousands even, could have used their experience with failure to re-launch themselves into a better existence, or the attainment of a life long dream. If you expect to succeed on your first attempt then you haven't begun to understand the basis of life. Each day, thousands of babies learn to walk by experiencing failure. What babies know that adults don't is that no one said that failure to walk on their first attempt should convince them that they should continue to crawl for the rest of their lives.

Failure goes hand in hand with success. In other words, failure allows you to back up and re-load, to dissect what went wrong, what went right, what not to do again, what should be done differently, or faster, or more efficiently. It tells you what you need to learn, what information you should digest, and prepares you to know success when you've attained it.

Failure is also a pointed test on your perseverance, your commitment to do what it takes, and your ability to move over, around, bypass, or turn obstacles into advantages. Think of failure to get to pint A by taking a certain highway only to find your way blocked by a fallen tree, or a bridge that has washed out. If you simply turn around and find your way back home, you've not only experienced failure to get to point B, you've clearly demonstrated that your desire to get to point B wasn't strong enough, that you allow any obstacle to sway you from your course, and you've allowed yourself to make an erroneous assumption that there wasn't another coarse open to you.

Now, if instead, you've turned around and tried a multitude of different roads to get to point B and haven't found any, and you have also tried to get to point B by plane, helicopter or train, and you still can't reach B, then it's time to move onto something else. The point here is that you've tried everything you could, persevered, backed up, re-loaded, and tried again, but didn't quit because your first effort didn't result in success. In this case, you've let failure teach you a valuable lesson in that you know you won't try to go to B again, but instead set your course to take you to point C.

And, even more importantly, when you do have an opportunity to go to point C, you won't automatically chart your course until you've learned everything you can, checked for alternate routes, and climbed into your car armed with compass, water, and further preparation for the long haul no matter what. You know the way is open, so get moving. Failure is welcomed as a doorway to accomplishments, to achieving your goals, only if you take continued action avoiding the pitfalls already known and experienced.