Meet Your Toughest Teacher: Why You Need to Fail to Win
Nobody wakes up in the morning hoping to crash and burn.
We are wired to fear rejection, mistakes, and falling short. We treat failure like a contagious disease—something to be avoided at all costs.
But here is the hard truth: Success is a terrible teacher.
Success convinces you that you are smart, invulnerable, and that you have it all figured out. It makes you complacent.
Failure, on the other hand? Failure forces you to pay attention.
The Classroom of Life
Imagine success as the graduation ceremony after you get your degree. It’s the party, the photos, and the applause. But failure is the actual classroom.
Failure is where the actual work happens.
It is the red ink on the test papers that points out exactly where your answers broke down. It is the resistance in the gym that builds the muscle.
As I say: “Failing is the teacher for success! Without the teacher, there is little chance of success.”
If you are skirting around the edges of life, playing it safe so you never have to face the teacher, you aren’t actually learning. You are just stagnating.
Shift Your Mindset
It is time to rebrand “Failure.”
- Failure isn’t a stop sign; it is a detour sign guiding you to a better direction.
- Failure isn’t a reflection of your worth; it is a reflection of your current strategy.
- Failure isn’t the opposite of success; it is a fundamental component of success.
Your Action Plan: The “Crash Report”
We don’t just read about success here; we have a go at practicing it.
This week, I want you to confront a recent “failure.”
The Task:
Take 5 minutes today to perform a “Crash Report” on a recent mistake or rejection. Write down the answers to these three questions:
- What happened? (Stick to the facts, remove the emotion).
- What specifically went wrong? (Was it a lack of preparation on your part, did you execute something incorrectly, or was the timing wrong?)
- What is the ONE lesson the “Teacher” gave me here?
The Win:
Once you extract the lesson, the failure ceases to be a painful memory and becomes a valuable asset. You have paid the tuition; make sure you get the education.
Go fail at something worth doing today.