Many of us fear failure, without realizing that many successful people are not afraid to fail and in fact failed before success came their way. Failure is a part of success. A real-life example that failure is part of success is the story of Paul Ehrlich, a chemist who discovered a drug to treat those afflicted with syphilis. The drug was named “Formula 606” – because the first 605 tests were all failures.

It is not embarrassing to fail. It is not the end of the world to fail. If we make a mistake, fall short or totally mess up, our attitude should simply be: “So what?” That’s why erasers were invented. While failure may be humbling to many of us, it prepares us for the opportunity to succeed. We must learn from our failures. Because failure is a natural part of our progressive living. Because there is such a thing as a well-managed failure. Meaning that instead of wallowing in disgrace, we should analyze our failures to ensure that our next effort will be successful. Failure merely delays success. It is a temporary detour and not a dead-end street. We must bounce back.

Have you ever heard of successful people who began as failures? Successful failures they are called. Like Ignace Paderewski, the great Polish pianist who was once discouraged when his music teacher told him that his hands were too small to master the keyboard. Or the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso who was told by his teacher that his voice sounded like the wind whistling through the window. Or Albert Einstein, the great scientist whose Ph.D. dissertation submitted to the University of Bern in 1905 was turned down as being irrelevant and fanciful. Or Winston Churchill, the great English statesman who at the age of sixteen had a report card from rhetoric teacher at Harrow School in England that stated “a conspicuous lack of success.”

If you feel depressed by the series of failures that are coming your way, let me refresh you with the failures of President Abraham “Honest Abe” Lincoln before he became a US President:

“Difficult childhood
“Less than one year formal schooling
“Failed in business in 1831
“Defeated for the legislature, ‘32
“Again failed in business, ‘33
“Elected to the legislature. ‘34
“Fiancée died, ‘35
“Defeated for Speaker, ‘38
“Defeated for Elector, ‘40
“Married, wife a burden, ‘42
“Only one of his four sons lived past age 18
“Defeated for Congress, ‘43
“Elected to Congress, ‘46
“Defeated for Congress, ‘48
“Defeated for Senate, ‘55
“Defeated for Vice-President, ‘56
“Defeated for Senate, ‘58
“Elected President, ‘60”

The late Winston Churchill once said that “Success is never final; failure is never fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” Many of us measure success by the amount of money we accumulate. But this is not necessarily true.

Let’s put failure behind us and press on. Let’s not use failure as an excuse for not trying again.
Even as a nation, we are not a failure. Far from it. Our saving grace is that we as a people are gifted with boundless resiliency. We bounce back from failure to success.

Have a joyful day!