Having the Guts to Fail

The greatest phenomenal individuals in the world have experienced the greatest failures in their lives. One fact that we all need to accept is that there is no success without failure. And as Deshauna puts it, we should not be afraid of failure but be terrified of regret. For us to achieve our goals and live our dreams, we ought to move out of our comfort zones. Risks have to be taken for achievement to be attained. And with risks comes the possibility of us failing at some point in the success process.

Remember while you were in school and you failed in exams, what you did was to revise hard and smart so that you may improve in your next exam, right? You knew the revision techniques that did not work out for you so that you could formulate new ways of effectively revising for your exams and create strategies of understanding particular subject such as doing a practical test after reading. That’s how we need to deal with failure even in real life. We do not give up after we fail, but we come up with new ways of becoming better. We remain consistent in our quest for success.

Deshauna was the first black American military to ever win Miss USA title in June 2016 but this did not come easy for her. She failed state pageant contests six times and still had no reason to give up. She had the guts to fail, and she did; the ultimate prize was worth it. Denzel Washington one of his commencement speeches said, “for you to succeed, you need to have the guts to fail.”

It’s easy for us to give up when things do not work out as planned. Certain situations in life are quite discouraging and sometimes we lack the purpose and meaning of following a particular course. But our thirst for success keeps us going. Searching for a job in this age is a hectic process; there those who admit defeat along the way but there are those who know better and still continue with their job hunt until they get one. 

According to Denis Waitley, "Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is a delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." 

Nothing is easy and that’s why we work hard. Success does not come to those who choose the easy way. To those who love being in the comfort zone. But. Success comes to those who challenge themselves. Those who do not fear failure because the dreams they are chasing are worth it. Success comes to those who have the guts to fail.