Why It's Important to Fail

"Without Failure There is No Success"

Before you can master success you must know about failure.  The difference between them is like night and day.  If you had never known darkness how could you truly appreciate a sunrise?

You may have failed in something but that doesn't mean you are a failure.  That was only something and there is a big difference between something and everything.

If you reached for something but didn't get it the first time that isn't a failure but just an attempt.  What if you did that same thing over and over again until you finally did succeed?  Would you think of those as failures?

No, because you just kept doing it until you got it right.  Like learning how to walk, talk, ride a bicycle or reading and writing.  You succeeded in those things, didn't you?  You may have made mistakes repeatedly but you still learned how.  Why?

Your success in those was incredibly important to you.  It didn't matter how many times you tried, you just had to succeed.  You had no choice.

If you had given up only then would you have become a failure, but you didn't.  Each setback you experienced was a part of your learning experience.  You learned what not to do until you finally learned exactly what to do.

Success and Failure Now

You may think that learning to walk and talk or read and write are different kinds of success.  When you were a child you had the support of your family to encourage you to keep going.  They helped you to succeed.

But now it may be different for you.  You may feel that you have failed and success is something perhaps beyond your reach.  Why do you have these feelings?  What's changed?

Success and failure have never changed but you may have.  They are exactly the same since you were a child and long before that.  You are the only thing that could have changed.  Your ideas and feelings about success and failure may be different now.

When you feel that you have failed, think about the when of that feeling.  Are you looking to the past and thinking how wonderful things were before?  Or are you thinking about the future and how terrible things may become?

If you keep remembering the past or worrying about the future you are not living in the present.  You can never fail right NOW.  Watch how you think and strive to succeed in the present.  This is the only time that you have control over.  Not the past.  Not the present.  Right NOW.

When you find yourself recalling the past or worrying about the future, stop yourself.  If it's the past, think that you have no control over it and let it go.  If it's the future, think that your power is in the NOW, not the then and let that go too.

You can still use any setbacks you experience just as you did when you were a child.  You can learn from them and remember that these are only more things that you learned how not to do.  Realize that each attempt brings you that much closer to the success you want.  Don't fear the mistakes you make, embrace them and learn from them.

How can you learn how to do the right things without learning how to do the wrong things?  Success and failure are two parts of the same thing.  If you can look at them in this way you will never fail and will only keep learning until you succeed.  Take heart, because ...

each time you fail your success becomes that much closer.

Related Articles

When Your Success Program Fails

The Success Story of Thomas Edison

When Everything Goes Wrong

How To Get Results Without Struggle

Why Beliefs Are So Powerful

An Easy Way to Stop Worrying About Anything

About the Author

James Kudlak is an Internet consultant, systems programmer, writer and contributor of articles to this website.

You may distribute this article freely as long as you keep the content unchanged and include this byline.  For further information you may contact him by clicking here.