Why is failure so important?

Failure, like death, is just an event. A dash with dates on both sides. The difference being death is permanent and failure is only temporary.

This is something I gleaned from Joshua Sheet – Radical Personal Finance. I took his words and made it my own but the basic premis holds true. Life is a series of events that take us on journeys and shape the way we view the world.

I know I have been speaking on death a lot but I think there is some real introspective value to it. Death is the final destination. Everything we do from the time we are born until death is what encompasses our life, or better said our life story. We are writing this story now. In the moment. Sitting down drinking a cup of coffee. Listening to kids playing in the grass. Watching the wind blow through the trees. Everything we experience is part of our life story. Including failure.

Failure itself is just another event like a cold or a skinned knee. It’s just something that happens. It’s how we perceive it (and anything else for that matter) which gives it meaning. It’s not a matter of if you will fail but when, and at what cost. Failure is going to happen and how prepared for it you are will determine how impactful it is on your life.

Failure can be many things but overall it should be a learning experience. Of all the things that come with failure knowledge is the one you should focus on. It’s this knowledge that should be used to evaluate future events. This knowledge sets the left and right limits of how you can approach things in the future. No failure is any less important so try to learn something from all of them.

Success is not defined by doing something great and not failing but rather failing enough and being persistent enough to stand behind what you believe until it becomes successful.

A great example of this is Andrew Cushman, a real estate investor who overcame his limits and persisted until he was able to be successful. Working toward his very first deal (2006) right before the market crash he made 4575 unsuccessful calls until on the 4576th he was able to find and secure a deal. That is massive persistence. That was his benchmark. 1 deal and then he could decide if it was worth it. How many times are you willing to fail before you are able to achieve success in whatever you are doing in life? How much do you believe in your goals and dreams? Enough to fail at them 4575 times? You can listen to his interview here at BiggerPockets.

Determination, persistence, immersing yourself in your goals and dreams and a lot of failure… Go after what you want no matter how hard and how long it takes.

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  • spottedgeckgo

    Great article. Failure cripples some and seems to inspire others. Throwing everything I have at a project right now, not sure which one I’ll be if it sinks, but I’m planning on being inspired.

    • johnamcconnell

      And I guess the part I may have left out… You have to minimize your losses… rig the game so that you don’t completely lose out even when you fail… That it’s not catastrophic.

    • johnamcconnell


