Are you failing or are you learning? Failure is only failure if you give up. But if you learn from your mistakes instead, then failure can lead to great success in all areas of your life.

Are you failing, or are you learning?

I came across that catchy quote a while back on social media and it stuck with me.

I’m not going to claim I’m a wildly successful entrepreneur of world fame, but I have had my own failures and successes.

And if I have realised anything it’s this:

For success of any kind, you need patience, and you need to learn from your mistakes.

Failure is not about making a mistake, failure is when you give up at the first mistake instead of persevering and pushing outside your comfort zone.

Every failure is an opportunity to gain or acquire knowledge or a skill.

Failures are opportunities to learn and grow

Learning from Thomas Edison

Edison famously said “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work“.

In other words, failure is only failure if you give up, or if you are not learning from a mistake.

Success comes when you start to see failure as a mistake on your way to success, instead of a show-stopper.

There is no right or wrong way to do something, but if you stop learning, you will never succeed at anything in life.

Failing Fast

Silicon Valley coined the phrase “failing fast”.

It’s a term in the Agile method of software development where you deliberately seek out failure so you can find the weaknesses in your software in order to fix it faster, and thereby build a better product quicker.

It works the same for business practices.

By deliberately seeking out failure, you get to a profitable business model faster as you learn what does and doesn’t work, or put another way, you learn what the customer wants or doesn’t want.

You don’t have to spend many years building a company or a product that no-one is interested in, because you fail deliberately, then use the lessons from your mistakes to be more successful.

Why does failure lead to success?

The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere. – Barack Obama

There are many reasons why failure leads to success.

For one, failure gives you an opportunity to grow and to gain a better understanding of whatever it is you are trying to achieve.

Failure leads to success BECAUSE you learn from it.

Think back in your life to those times you had the most personal growth, and you will find it was those stressful times where you were forced outside your comfort zone.

In fact, many years ago I worked with a guy (we both work in IT) who was generally considered a guru in his field. He always knew the answer no matter what the question was.

I once asked him how did he get to be so knowledgeable, and he basically said the only reason he knew so much was because he had made so many mistakes and had no choice but to fix them himself.

I learned that lesson myself years later from making, and fixing my own mistakes.

When you work in IT, making a mistake when working on a database, or a server or some other IT system that is crucial to the company…well, let’s just say I have learned the hard way the value of making backups of data or systems before even starting.

In fact, I once almost wiped out all the accounts in the database for one of our VERY senior managers. It was only past wisdom that had taught me the value of backups that allowed me to fix that mistake. But I’m not going to lie, I had a few very stressful hours imagining trying to find another job after I got fired from that one.

But I learned a lot, not only how to fix technical mistakes, but how to prevent them, and how to handle failure on a more personal level.

And through my personal growth I gained the strength and resilience needed to succeed in other areas of my life.

How do you become successful after failure?

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. ― Charles R. Swindoll

Don’t give up.

Continue to believe in yourself. You had enough confidence to start your journey, but if you give up now, you will achieve nothing but failure.

However, if you understand that success in life means perseverance, growth, being brave and taking risks, you WILL SUCCEED at whatever goal you set for yourself.

Reasons why failure can lead to success

Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know. – William Saroyan

1. It gives you an opportunity to grow as person

By being pushed outside your comfort zone, you are forced to grow and become more resilient.

2. It gives you an opportunity to improve your business or product

Edison certainly did not give up on his dream to create the lightbulb. He failed a 1000 times before he invented a product we still use today.

There were other inventors who beat him to the prize of inventing a lightbulb, but they are all gone and forgotten, as their product was just not as good as Edison’s.

Leaders understand that failure is a learning opportunity that will give them an edge over their competitors.

3. You learn how to handle stressful events

One of the most remarkable things about living through stressful life events is realising how you can get through anything.

I have had some stressful times at work over the past few years.

But you know what, I got through them. And I recovered.

So now, whenever life gets too tough, I remind myself of the past, how I managed to get through the bad times, how I managed to overcome my failures, and that I will get through it again.

4. You become braver

Fear of failure often holds us back from trying to achieve our dreams, or setting high goals.

Realising that failure is just another opportunity for growth means you are less afraid to fail.

When you have less fear, you are more willing to try new things, or accept opportunities that are offered to you.

More opportunities and chances lead to more success and enjoyment of life.

5. You take more risks

Overcoming our failures teach us that you it’s OK to take more risks as you’ve proven to yourself you can handle it when things go wrong.

6. Your confidence grows

Every time you fail at something, you have a choice to give up or to continue.

When you choose to go on, to keep walking the path to your dreams and goals, every time you overcome another hurdle or obstacle, you learn that you really can achieve your goals.

You start to believe in yourself more and more and you become more confident in what you can achieve.

7. You become more resilient and stronger

And every time you refuse to give up you realise that you are capable of far more than you ever imagined.

8. You become more patient

Success is very often a long lonely road.

Being able to look back on the past and seeing all the failures you have overcome already means you are less likely to give up just because it’s taking longer than you would have wished.

9. You accomplish more

When you become more confident, patient and resilient, you set higher and higher goals, and you are less likely to give up.

10. You enjoy life more

I honestly think and believe that new experiences, achievements and pushing the boundaries of your own comfort are what make life more enjoyable.

Conclusion

It’s only failure if you give up.

It’s only failing when you don’t overcome an obstacle.

You have only failed when you become stuck and don’t try anymore.

Don’t be a failure.

Don’t give up.

Be brave.

Be your own hero.