I once had a boss who said she was successful in everything she had ever done.  I didn’t believe her.  Either she has had some failures or she never took any risks.  I think it is more likely she had some failures.  It’s hard to be successful without having some failures.  According to John F. Kennedy;  “Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.”
If you look at the most influential innovators, athletes, scientists, inventors, and icons throughout history, they all shared a common belief – they simply did not entertain the idea that failure is a bad thing.  Rather, they knew that every failure they encountered brings you one step closer to success, and that this is a natural part of the process. Some even embraced failure!  As Thomas Edison once said;  “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
If you think about it, failure is just feedback; it’s simply showing you what’s not working so you can find out what will work. It’s necessary and can’t be avoided.  If we didn’t have failure, how would we know what to do next?   The process of learning from our mistakes is truly invaluable, and is something we need to run toward, not run away from. I once worked for a man that made such a bad business decision that the company went out of business in 2 years.  So you don’t only learn from your failures but you can also learn from others errors in judgement.
I love this quote by Michael Jordan;  “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”   It is the trying that is important.  You can’t make the shot if you don’t shoot the ball.
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s ok to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.” – H. Stanley Judd