Failure is part of life, and let’s get one thing straight: you’re going to fail. At something. Probably at several somethings. Might even fail so hard you become a cautionary tale your relatives whisper about at family gatherings.
And you know what? That’s good. You should fail. Because if you’re not failing, you’re either playing it so safe that your life could be summarized by a beige wall, or you’re lying to yourself harder than a politician two weeks before an election.
See, somewhere along the way, we decided that failure was this rare, catastrophic event, like getting struck by lightning while being dumped over text. But in reality, failure is just like that one annoying guy at every party: always around, occasionally spills beer on you, but somehow makes the night more interesting.
I don’t care what you’ve read in those self-help books written by people who look like they’ve never eaten a carb. Failure isn’t a sign you suck at life. It’s a sign you’re actually doing life. And the sooner you realize that nobody cares about your failed business, your bombed exam, or that one time you tried to start a podcast called Crypto for Dogs, the freer you’ll be.
So buckle up. I’m about to walk you through why failure is overrated, introduce you to a few legends who failed harder than you ever will, and drop a little story about how I personally face-planted at the finish line of my biggest academic race. Spoiler: I didn’t die. And neither will you.
Table of Contents
Failure is Like Puberty— Awkward, Painful, but Necessary
Look, failure is basically life’s way of hazing you.
It’s like puberty: weird, embarrassing, full of bad decisions, and completely unavoidable. No matter how many motivational reels you binge on Instagram, how many vision boards you slap together with affirmations about “positive energy” and “manifesting abundance,” you’re still going to screw something up spectacularly.
That’s just how this game works. You can’t change that! So, the problem isn’t failure. The problem is how we’ve turned it into this mythical beast.
We treat failure like it’s an incurable disease; something to avoid at all costs, something that, if it happens to you, means you’ve officially earned your seat at the Loser Table. But here’s a little secret from this one-time renowned failure: the most interesting, successful, and downright badass people you know have failed more times than you’ve even tried.
Winston Churchill, a man who basically chain-smoked cigars and wore top hats for a living, once said:
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
I translate it to mean, you’re gonna eat dirt, probably a lot. The trick is to get up, dust off your ego, and keep staggering forward like a drunk in a blackout. Because on the other side of those faceplants is usually something halfway decent.
But no — we’re out here acting like one failed relationship, one business idea that tanked, or one bad grade means it’s time to join a monastery and give up on modern life.
Chill out. Failing doesn’t mean you suck. It means you tried something that wasn’t guaranteed, and guess what? That puts you miles ahead of everyone still sitting on their hands overthinking everything.
So let’s stop treating failure like it’s a scarlet letter and start treating it like what it really is: your ticket into the big leagues.
Story Time: 4 Badass Failures Who Crashed and Then Soared
Now, before you start thinking “Okay, cool talk bro, but you don’t know what it’s like to fail this bad,” let’s roll out some people who screwed up on a scale so grand, it makes your little trainwreck look like a spilled drink at brunch.
1. Oprah Winfrey, “Unfit for TV”
Imagine being told you don’t belong on TV… and then going on to basically own TV. Oprah’s first boss told her she was too emotional and unfit for television news. Fired her on the spot. Fast forward a couple of decades and she’s worth a cool $2.5 billion, has her own network, and casually gives away cars like they’re Tic Tacs. Stay unfit, Queen.
2. Walt Disney, “Lacks Imagination”
Before Mickey Mouse became a cultural god, Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Yes, the man who built a multi-billion-dollar empire on talking animals and magic castles was once told his ideas sucked. Now his biggest problem is deciding which of his theme parks should get a Star Wars land next.
3. Abraham Lincoln, Professional Loser (Until He Wasn’t)
Lincoln’s resume reads like a full-blown tragedy— failed in business, lost multiple elections, had a nervous breakdown, buried his sweetheart … but he kept showing up. And eventually, the man ended slavery and became one of the most respected presidents in U.S. history. Moral of the story: even if your life is a mess right now, history’s got room for late bloomers.
4. J.K. Rowling, Broke, Rejected, and Now Debating Wizards on X
Before Harry Potter sold 600 million copies and made every bookstore stock wizard merch, Rowling was a broke, single mom on welfare. Twelve publishers rejected her manuscript. Twelve. These were people whose literal job was to spot good stories, and they all passed on what became one of the biggest book franchises ever. Now she makes enough to build her own Hogwarts if she wanted to.
Every one of these people was a walking cautionary tale until they weren’t. Failure was just a pit stop on the way to “I told you so” land. So unless you’ve been publicly fired, declared bankrupt, or had your manuscript laughed out of a dozen offices — you’re doing fine, champ.
My Own Glorious Failure
Alright, story time again. Let me now tell you about my own failure. I wasn’t always this charming, self-aware genius you see before you now. Back in the day, I was that guy.
You know, the one who always came first in class, aced every exam, and made teachers say things like “You’re destined for greatness” with misty eyes.
I wasn’t just top of my class, I was the academic golden child of the entire damn state. I crushed my national matriculation exams so hard they probably considered retiring the test.
Every report card was a victory lap. Every speech day, my name got called so many times people started rolling their eyes like “Okay, we get it.” Basically, I was the human equivalent of a flex.
Then came my final professional MB exams. And guess what? I flunked. Bad. The kind of failure that makes people avoid eye contact with you in church. The kind where your phone stops ringing because everyone’s too awkward to figure out what to say. It was like going from driving a Ferrari to crashing a tricycle into a wall.
Humiliating doesn’t even scratch the surface.
I remember sitting there in my room, staring at the result like it was some cosmic joke. Years of trophies, certificates, and “you’re going places” speeches — down the drain. And let me tell you, the pity stares from family? Chef’s kiss. The unsolicited Bible verses about Job’s suffering were even better.
But after wallowing in self-pity for a while (and trust me, I did), something clicked. Nobody was going to hand me a comeback. There were no cheat codes, no motivational speaker showing up with a TED Talk playlist. It was just me, my bruised ego, and a choice: stay down or get back up.
So I got up. Tried again. Studied my ass off. And crossed that finish line like Michael Phelps.
Nobody even remembers the failure now. They just see the letters before and after my name. Life moved on. I moved on. And you know the best part? That failure taught me more about myself than a thousand shiny report cards ever did.
So what if you failed? Fail hard. Fail loud. Then get the hell back up. Failure is part of life, so you must learn to frolic with the idea of failing, too.
Stop Romanticizing Failure, Start Learning From It
Now, before you start thinking this is some “failure is beautiful” Disney Channel moment, pump the brakes. Failure sucks. It’s embarrassing. It’s lonely. It makes you question your entire existence at 1 AM while Googling “how to disappear and start a new life in Australia.” And no, it doesn’t feel like “character development” when you’re in the middle of it.
But here’s the thing: it’s useful. Way more useful than success, actually. Success makes you cocky. Failure makes you pay attention. It forces you to face the inconvenient truths you’ve been pretending didn’t exist. It teaches you what doesn’t work, who not to trust, and what nonsense you’ve been telling yourself in the mirror.
The people who win long-term? They’re not the ones who avoid failure. They’re the ones who learn how to fail better. Because every screw-up hands you a lesson.
Drop the ball enough times and you start to figure out how to catch it.As Elbert Hubbard once said:
“There is no failure except in no longer trying.”
Meaning: the only real L you can take is quitting on yourself. Everything else is just part of the training curriculum.
The Dialogue That Hits Different
If you’ve never read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, do yourself a favor and grab a copy. Or don’t. Either way, I’m about to spoil one of the best lines in it for you.
There’s this moment where Santiago, the main character chasing his so-called Personal Legend, is terrified of actually succeeding. He confesses to The Alchemist:
Santiago: “I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living.”
The Alchemist: “Then you will have to find another dream.”
And boom! There it is— the mic-drop moment. Because here’s the secret you don’t hear often: life is basically one big game of Fail, Learn, Level Up, Repeat.
There’s no finish line. No big scoreboard where you finally “win” at life and ride off into the sunset on a unicorn made of self-actualization.
You succeed at one thing? Great. Now what? On to the next mountain to climb, next mistake to make, next business idea to botch. That’s the game.
The people you admire— the Oprahs, the Disneys, the Lincolns— they didn’t stop at failure. And they didn’t stop at success either. They just kept going.
Bottom Line: Fail, Flop, Get Up, Repeat
So here’s your permission slip: go out there and screw something up. Bomb an interview. Launch a project that tanks. Text your crush something awkward. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you get up afterward, figure out what you learned, and keep moving.
Because failure isn’t a curse. It’s proof you were brave enough to try. Oftentimes, failure is the key to success!
Now go fail better.
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