5 Really Good Reasons To Start Embracing Failure

Failing at anything never feels good. We cringe at the thought of saying we’re going to do something, telling others, and then falling flat on our face for everyone to see. Nothing seems more petrifying than accepting the vulnerability that comes with going after whatever your self-defined success is. Here are five reasons why you need to fail and why you should be ecstatic to do so.

1. Provides a prerequisite for success

There are two things every successful person does. Fail a lot and put up with a lot of sh*t. So much so that they have been humbled by the process. Humbling experiences come by the naive thought that bumps in the road won’t happen to you. Successful people are always asked to tell their story of how they made it and give advice. You have to fail multiple times to be able to adequately answer these questions and provide true guidance.

2. Exposes your weakness

When you see an area you’re weak in, you have the opportunity to strengthen it. Once you strengthen that area of weakness, you will realize another area. Every failure makes you a bit more self-aware while making weaknesses easier to overcome. Overtime, you will be able to look back and see a holistic view of how strong you’ve become by overcoming one failure at a time.

3. Develops tough skin

One of my best friends used to play college football. The summer after his freshman year he came back looking like The Hulk with the confidence of Superman. I asked him what changed and his response was simple, “I got knocked down enough times that I finally learned how to get up.” Every time you get knocked down, getting up becomes second nature.

4. Gives you a benchmark

I started a business a few years back with a few friends and it failed. However, I was able to look at our yearlong process and pick out exact points of where we failed as a team and where I failed individually. Life is cyclical and chances are that if you get back up and try again you will hit the same points of contention. Take note of where you slipped up, hit a roadblock, or fell because it will come around again. However, this time you’ll be prepared.

5. People are watching

I have always felt that you influence people whether you like it or not and others are always watching you. When you fail you will always hear the people that don’t have your best interest in heart louder than the rest. Ignore it. They will try to explain why you failed and what you should have done better without knowing any of the struggles you’ve gone through. Instead, take notice of the ones who stay silent. Take note of how meticulously they watch you. You’ll soon realize it wasn’t how bad you failed that impacted them, it’s how quickly you got back up.