This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:8
Nobody likes to fail; yet some of the greatest lessons in life are learned through failure. The reality, as Rick Warren has pointed out, is that “no one’s life is an unbroken chain of victories. We all experience setbacks … defeats … losses … failures.” That’s the way life is.
In every athletic contest, there are both winners and losers. The greatest sluggers in baseball are usually among those racking up the greatest number of strikeouts. It’s all part of the challenge in sports, in business, in marriage, and in life. But there is a silver lining to the dark cloud of failure, a second-fruit, so as to speak, which is much sweeter than that of initial success. What can you gain from failure?
First, you gain self-understanding. You learn more about yourself in failure situations than in successful endeavors. We recognize a dark side to our inner selves, it shows our arrogance and our pride. People who eventually succeed after one or more failures are usually better adjusted, less arrogant, more gracious and appreciative. They’ve learned that success is complex—a combination of factors, some of which they could not manufacture or produce, contributions of others and the goodness of God.
The second benefit of failure is that you learn what will not work. Opportunity often comes through the back door disguised as failure—probably one of the reasons so few people really learn from failure. The classic illustration is that of Thomas Alva Edison, the wizard of Menlo Park, and the inventor of the motion picture and the achievement that made him famous: the electric light bulb. After 2,000 experiments trying to produce an incandescent globe, he was asked why he didn’t quit. He replied, “I’ve found out 2000 ways it can’t be done. Now I will find out how it can be done.”
Many people never rise from the ashes of their failures because they just can’t forget. The major reason for their continued failure is that their memory is too good. Fearful of failing again, they hesitate to risk trying. Henry Ford, the industrialist who put the world on wheels, said, “Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again” (Thoughts on Wisdom, American Heritage, New York, 1995, p. 48).
The third benefit of failure is that it allows you to move in a different direction. A friend of mine faced failure when his company went broke, so he borrowed money and took a two-weeks vacation. Sitting on the beach in Hawaii, he thought through his failure. He came up with a new business plan, one that eventually succeeded.
The fourth benefit of failure is that it brings an added dimension to your life—a positive one that also embraces the reality that God has much to do with what happens in your life. Yes, godless men succeed in their endeavors, but thousands of individuals have failed, then realized that God was left out of the equation for success, and understanding the importance of knowing and serving God, then included Him in their plans for the future.
A final thought: Never forget a child falls many times before he walks. R. H. Macy failed seven times before he established the New York store that made him famous. Walt Disney declared bankruptcy several times before he succeeded. Frankly, failure has more to teach you than success. Once you’ve climbed the hill, there’s no place to go but down; but having stumbled on the climb provides lots of opportunities to succeed. Think about it.
Resource Reading: Joshua 1
