In high school, my friends and I hung out occasionally with a car mechanic and amateur racer. He was fond of saying, “If you’re not running off the track every once in a while, you’re not driving fast enough!”
This phrase came in handy when I went to work for an entrepreneur just after graduating college. He was continually throwing around business ideas and we moved forward with a good portion of them. All were intended to move the company further forward or into more lucrative ventures or gain a better control of the work we were doing. They were success-oriented and success-intended. And we failed at probably half of them.
I have worked places where failure was frowned upon and known people frightened of failure of nearly any kind: relationships, jobs, finances, you name it. They are frightened because failure doesn’t feel good. And they are correct.
The problem is when failure is seen as an indication that one is unworthy, damaged, or inadequate. Risk is avoided and success is suppressed. You get around the track without incident but you are not in the race.
Learning that failure is necessary for success has been invaluable for me both professionally and personally. I have had many failures in both realms. Some were rather spectacular in their scope and degree. Some created major shifts in my life’s direction. Some were fantastically productive in the end. Some may still be playing out. All have pushed me forward.
I am certain without the risks taken and the failures along the way, the successes never would have been possible. Failures may be difficult, discouraging, and painful but for life to be all it can be, they are absolutely necessary.
Part 3 in a series on The Failures that Lead to Success.
Part 1: Redefining Success and Failure
Part 2: The Necessity of Failure
Part 3: True Failure