Failure is a part of growing up, and it’s normal to do so. Like many things in our society, it has become such a taboo to the point where people won’t even attempt a task in fear of not being good at it on the first try. The thing about failure is that we need it to help us grow. The thought of failing at something usually stops people in their tracks from pursuing budding interests, such as getting that plant for fear of killing it, or simply trying something new.
With social media reaching new heights everyday, it’s hard for people to compartmentalize what goes into being successful. I mean, sure, we hear it’s hard but we don’t actually see how hard it is. We’ve been conditioned to believe failure shouldn’t even be in our vocabulary. With videos, stories and pictures highlighting public figures' top points in their lives, it's hard to take things with a grain of salt. What I wish I heard more is we aren’t going to achieve greatness straight out of college just because we have a degree, it’s what one does with that degree that makes them successful.
The reality many people face in order to achieve the level of success we want is through failure. Even if we do ‘fail’, we are not failures if we keep trying. The only way someone can truly fail at life is by not taking risks at all, or by dwelling in failure to the point of not taking anymore risks. We will never know how something will turn out, good or bad, if we never make that jump. It’s hard for most people, since our society has become so visual, to realize greatness takes time and the learning curves that are thrown at us can make us into the person we want to become.
Although failing might be embarrassing, possibly making someone want to move to a different state under a different name and open up a candle shop; that’s the price every successful person has had to pay a few times.
A few great examples I found of successful people having failed included:
-Erin Warren
With social media reaching new heights everyday, it’s hard for people to compartmentalize what goes into being successful. I mean, sure, we hear it’s hard but we don’t actually see how hard it is. We’ve been conditioned to believe failure shouldn’t even be in our vocabulary. With videos, stories and pictures highlighting public figures' top points in their lives, it's hard to take things with a grain of salt. What I wish I heard more is we aren’t going to achieve greatness straight out of college just because we have a degree, it’s what one does with that degree that makes them successful.
The reality many people face in order to achieve the level of success we want is through failure. Even if we do ‘fail’, we are not failures if we keep trying. The only way someone can truly fail at life is by not taking risks at all, or by dwelling in failure to the point of not taking anymore risks. We will never know how something will turn out, good or bad, if we never make that jump. It’s hard for most people, since our society has become so visual, to realize greatness takes time and the learning curves that are thrown at us can make us into the person we want to become.
Although failing might be embarrassing, possibly making someone want to move to a different state under a different name and open up a candle shop; that’s the price every successful person has had to pay a few times.
A few great examples I found of successful people having failed included:
- Walt Disney going bankrupt, with his company ‘Laugh-O-Gram’, before he created Mickey Mouse and his Disney empire.
- Oprah Winfrey being fired from her first television job as an anchor in Baltimore before her infamous talk show.
- Vera Wang failed at making it onto the U.S. Olympic figure skating team, and she didn’t design her first dress until she was 40.
-Erin Warren