Most people who are successful in their professional work and their relationships have experienced many failures along their road to success. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent light bulb, is often quoted regarding failure:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb."

"I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."

"Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

If Edison has been afraid of failure and let that fear control his actions, he would have never invented the light bulb and you would be sitting in the dark!

In order to achieve success in any area of your life, you need to change your perception of failure. Instead of seeing failure as an indication of your inadequacy or lack of self-worth, you need to see failure as a necessary stepping-stone to success. Some of the most financially successful people experienced repeated failures.

• Walt Disney was a high school drop out who suffered bankruptcy and repeated financial and business disasters.

• Milton Hershey, chocolate maker and founder of the famous Hershey Foods Corp., found success only after filing for bankruptcy for his first four candy companies.

• Henry Ford filed for bankruptcy for the first car company he started. He didn't succeed until he started his third company, Ford Motor Company.
  
  

• After P.T. Barnum, American showman, went bankrupt, he joined forces with circus operator James A. Bailey to found Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth.

 

• Albert Einstein did poorly in elementary school, and he failed his first college entrance exam at Zurich Polytechnic.

 

• Winston Churchill had a lifetime of defeats and setbacks before becoming prime minister of England at age 62. All of his greatest accomplishments and contributions came when he was a senior citizen.

 

• Lucille Ball was once dismissed from drama school for being too quiet and shy.

Ready to change your mind about failure? Start by flipping the 'failure' around into a positive learning experience. Generally speaking, nothing is a truly a failure, in every situations there is something to be gained from the experience.