What do J.K. Rowling, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison have in common? Aside from the excellence they have shown in their respective fields, they—along with a long line of successful people—are known to have experienced immense failures, only to end up achieving success in their respective fields. The success they achieved was not without a great deal of difficulty. And if they stopped at their failures, they would not have discovered their inner strength.
1. Failure is good for the ego.
Failure necessarily hurts our ego—but this can be a good thing. It widens our perspective, makes us realize that a problem can be approached in more than one way, and helps us fine tune our strategy to ultimately fix what went wrong the first time around.
2. Failure teaches us to be resilient and persistent.
Often, failure is merely a stubborn teacher that wants to see just how badly you want something and how far you will go to achieve it. When you fail the first time around, you will rethink and reconsider your priorities. And if it turns out that you really want to succeed, then you’ll come back fighting stronger than ever.
3. Failure increases our chances of success.
If you failed the first time around, then you know one method that doesn’t work and that you shouldn’t try again. That’s exactly how Thomas Edison viewed the 1,000 times he tried and failed to invent the light bulb. According to him, these attempts taught him how not to build one.
4. Failures are merely temporary.
Failures naturally make us feel sad and lonely, but when you think of it, they are merely short-term and temporary blocks on the road. If you take it too personally and dwell in them, you are responsible for making your failures permanent. They are by nature temporary, and you owe it to yourself to move forward and work your way towards success.
5. Failures make success even sweeter.
Admit it, how many times can you recall success that you achieved without hard work? There’s a lot more meaning to success if you earned it after fighting your way through and despite all the failures that you had to overcome. Failures make us strive harder, and the success that comes with it becomes infinitely more meaningful.