Failure is not a four-letter word, but many people treat it as such. Most people who are very successful have probably failed more than those who aren’t particularly successful.  Donald Trump, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Henry Ford, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Walt Disney are just a few names of successful people who have experienced bitter failure.  In fact, Trump, Ford, and Disney were all bankrupt before becoming wildly successful. Sure, there are some success stories of talented and smart people who were also lucky.  Nonetheless, most highly successful people would have never realized their accomplishments without a willingness to repeatedly experience failure.  Failure can be seen as trial and error research, such that you need to learn what is wrong before getting it right. Consider WD-40. The first 39 formulas were failures. So the more you fail, the greater the likelihood that you will succeed.  A few of my favorite quotes about failure:

The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.  Sven Goran Eriksson

Try and fail, but don’t fail to try Stephen Kaggwa

My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes…  Mahatma Gandhi

I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. Benjamin Franklin

Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.  Zig Ziglar

Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement. C.S. Lewis

Failure is the tuition you pay for success.  Walter Brunell

Jennifer L. Abel, Ph.D.

author of “Active Relaxation: How to Increase Productivity and Achieve Balance by Decreasing Stress and Anxiety”