“Will I ever succeed?”
That’s a question that we all have.
No matter how far we’ve come, there’s always more to learn, more to invest, and more to achieve.
Why do we even have such doubts?
If we try harder, we’ll definitely succeed, no?
Well, it’s not that easy.
There’s another option to the coin: failure.
The idea of it pushes us back into the comfort zone, where we dream about getting more successful but we never really try.
Most people forget about the opportunities for learning from failure.
Sure; failure will always be there as an option.
But it shouldn’t be that scary.
When we look at a few examples of successful people who failed, we realize that without that fall, they wouldn’t climb that high.
EduBirdie did a great job creating the infographic below that shows famous failures who succeeded.
Let’s see what lessons these examples teach.
What are the lessons learned from failure?
1. It’s a matter of perspective
Let’s say you invest a lot of money in property and you don’t make the return you expect.
If you think about it, it’s just a stage towards progress.
You learn a lot from an unsuccessful deal and you know how to do things differently from thereon.
You’ll be more careful when investing money, and you’ll do something different in the way you promote the property.
Jeff Bezos is a good example that proves that theory.
In 1999, Amazon made a deal with Sotheby’s to sell art, collectibles, and antiques through online auctions.
That project failed, but Bezos learned from the lesson and used it as a starting point for the Amazon we know today.
2. Failure makes you resilient
Let’s talk about Bill Gates.
He dropped out of Harvard, co-founded a startup that failed, and got accused of copying Apple's ideas too many times.
No matter what criticism he got, he remained resilient and pushed through with his goals.
Failure teaches us that nothing is certain in life.
We face challenges, but we must stay strong and face them as they come.
3. It motivates you to believe in yourself
What do most people do when they fail?
They get disappointed.
It’s okay; you can be disappointed when you fail to achieve a goal.
But you have to pick yourself up and learn how to believe in yourself again, harder than ever.
Oprah Winfrey can teach us about that.
She had an incredibly hard life, facing sexual harassment.
No one should have such a life and no one should be okay with it.
But Oprah focused on finding positivity again, and she’s still sharing that spirit with millions of people who adore her.
4. Failure makes you more creative
Elon Musk has had his share of failures.
He was one of the founders of PayPal, but he was fired from the CEO position in 2000.
Did that stop him? No; he got more creative in finding new ways to invest.
We still don’t know where his creativity will take him, but we can be sure of one thing: it has the potential to change the world.
Failure does this to you.
When you face the point of no return, you must think of another way of going forward.
You’ll have no other choice but to unlock your creativity and think of a unique way to succeed.
5. It makes you persistent, too
If you fail, does that mean you should give up?
Jack Ma says no.
His application to Harvard was rejected 10 times.
Through small steps and big ideas, he became one of the most successful business people in the entire world.
He got where he is because he refused to give up.
Do you think he’d be the same man if failure never occurred to him?
No; it’s thanks to those experiences that he built the character he has.
6. Failure forces you to compete, harder
Andrew Carnegie, the man who fueled the expansion of the American steel industry, spent his early years in poverty.
But he got what it took to become a leader.
He realized that to be competitive in a world that doesn’t lack talent, you have to be better, more resilient, and more decisive than anyone else.
You have to learn more, do more, and risk more.
Failure is okay
We’re not here to wish for you to fail.
We wish you success.
But if the option of failure prevents you from taking action, you should realize that failure is not such a bad thing, after all.
Look at the opportunities for learning through failure, and you’ll realize that it’s not the final point of your journey.
The examples listed in this infographic are enough to prove that point, right?
Courtesy of: https://edubirdie.com/
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