Failure Is the Seed of Growth and

Success
It’s no secret that our worst fear is often failure. But what if failure was actually
a good thing?

“Failure is success in progress,” Albert Einstein once said.

The great scientist was on to something. Encountering our fears and failures
prompts the most necessary changes in our lives and our businesses.

Related: Biggest Failures, Best Advice and Defining Success From 14

Inspiring Entrepreneurs

Here’s why every person, and every business, needs to fail at some point -- for
failure is the very seed of growth and success.

1. Failure creates extraordinary change.

Failure can act as a seed for two things: a road to despair or a springboard to
growth. What grows out of the initial failure is entirely up to the person who
“failed.”

It’s easy to become downtrodden and lose motivation when things don’t go as
planned. Instead, use the failure as a mechanism to reset your perspective, make
a mental change or embark on a new, much-needed direction.

Failure is necessary to shake things up. Otherwise, we would coast along

comfortably but we wouldn’t make any quantum leaps.

2. Failure builds tough skin.

Failure has an effect similar to a calloused heal. It’s the protective layer we
acquire from going around the block a few times and hitting a few bumps. Left
soft and unprotected, we easily become injured. Failure builds a thick skin that
can help anyone enter the big leagues without fear.

3. Failure keeps the ego in check.

Remaining down to earth and honest is a challenge in today’s business world.

When deal after deal is going through seamlessly and business is on a steep
incline, it’s easy to get a big head.

Related: Failure: The Key Ingredient to Winning

With that, those experiencing constant success may even resort to dishonesty if
it means not losing what they have. They become slaves to success and before
realizing it, they’ll do anything to stay on top, things they would never have
imagined. Partnerships and friendships are ruined. Family conflicts abound. It’s
all downhill from there, maybe except for the bank account.

Failure humbles us when we so desperately need to be humbled. It helps us

remember where we came from and keeps us in check.

4. Failure creates “aha” moments.

Failure creates the moment when something is finally seen, found or understood
in a way like never before -- the “aha” moment. Why?

It’s just like solving a complicated math problem. It’s tough to understand at
first, but walk away for a moment and, suddenly, something clicks. The answer
just comes out of nowhere.

But it’s not really coming from “nowhere.” It comes from a buildup within our
minds as the constricting thoughts of failure and fear expand. The expansion
results in an explosive energy that breaks us out of constriction and into a highly
energetic, creative state when things become clear and new insight is gained.

5. Failure propels growth as an entrepreneur.

Failure prepares us for what lies ahead. Entrepreneurs come across things they
didn’t know they needed to know almost every day. Failures catalyze much of
this knowledge because they are unexpected. How else do we learn what we
don’t know we need to know? It’s never something that can be planned.
What’s the difference between success and failure?

Lots of people may think there’s a world of difference between the two. But the reality is that they’re
much closer than you think.

That’s because in order to succeed big, you need to risk failing big. And often, you need to fail over
and over again if you want to get the success you really deserve.
Just think about some of the world’s most successful people.

J.K. Rowling, one of the world’s most successful writers and creator of the Harry Potter
series, considered suicide in her early 20’s.
Walt Disney, one of the world’s most creative and unique talents, saw his first big project – Laugh-
O-Gram Studio – go bankrupt in 1923, long before he launched his media & entertainment empire.
Elvis Presley, the “King of Rock and Roll”, was told by Jim Denny, manager of the Grand Old
Oprey, after one potentially career-changing gig “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go
back to drivin’ a truck.”
So what does this tell us about success and failure? A few things.

5 Things to Learn From Success and Failure

1. It’s not whether you fall down, it’s whether you get back up
Elvis, Walt Disney, J.K. Rowling and countless other successful people have failed over and over
again. What’s the difference with them, and people who fail once and give up? To name a few –
fame, fortune, and living a life true to their passion.
Related: The Power of Positive Thinking
2. Failure is just life’s way of giving you feedback
I once heard someone say that failure is just a form of feedback, nothing more, and nothing less.
Those words rocked my world. I realized when I heard them that if you can treat life as a big
experiment with the goal to learn as much as possible as fast as you can, so you can get to your
success-formula faster, you’ll be better off than you would have been had you taken the “safe” road.

Related: 10 Winning Beliefs That Can Change Your Life

3. It’s always darkest just before dawn
If you’ve been knocked down in life before, then you know that man’s biggest successes come not
from avoiding catastrophe, but instead by facing obstacles head-on, falling down every now and
again, getting back up and dusting himself off to continue the fight.

Hey, if there weren’t any challenges on the road to success, it would be easy, and everybody would
get what they want. What fun would that be?

Related: Set Your Goals – The First Step to Success

4. Learn from your mistakes
I’ll use the word “mistakes” lightly here. After all, if you learn something from a mistake, then that’s
not really a mistake, instead it’s valuable feedback. The important thing to do is to take that feedback
as a learning opportunity so you can move yourself closer to success every day.

5. Continued effort pays off

You remember the story about the tortoise and the hare, right? Some people called the tortoise
stubborn, slow, and even boring. But guess what? With each slippery, slow, methodical step he took,
he got closer to his goal. Meanwhile the rabbit was taking a nap…losing the proverbial fight to the
persistent tortoise.

Related: How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs

So what does all of this mean?
As you work toward achieving any of your goals – whether it’s to get healthier and lose some
unwanted fat, or start a new business, or become a better parent – know that failure is inevitable. As a
matter of fact, it’s desired. You should relish it. Because in those moments of failure, you’ll have the
choice to either continue on your current path, give up, or change course and plow ahead.
And that decision – time and time again – is what builds character. It’s what separate the weak from
the strong. And it’s what can get you everything you want in life.

The difference between success and failure isn’t that big…it really starts with a simple decision, after
your next mis-step. The question is, what will your decision be?