I'm sure nearly everyone, if not everyone, has a fear of failure. It's a very common thing. It's so difficult to put yourself out there knowing you might fail. Failure feels like rejection: it's like who you are is not good enough.
But that's not how I see it. And I don't think that's how you should see it either. You know how some people say, "If you don't try, you'll never succeed!" I think you could also say, "If you don't try, you'll never fail!" and that could be inspiring as well. Because failing means you tried. And trying should never be discounted. The result isn't nearly as important as the trying. Because trying is brave. Trying helps you learn. Trying grows your character. And often, trying eventually brings success, because if you try enough, you're likely to succeed.
I think JK Rowling, author of The Harry Potter series, does a good job summing up the importance of failure: "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default." In a way, not trying, not taking risks you want to take, is failure. For example, not trying out for the sports team you want to be in is more of a failure than trying out and not making it in. That's not to condemn not trying: sometimes it's just too difficult to do for whatever reason: you're too tired, you don't have enough time, or you're too scared to try right now.
All I'm saying is that trying is really undervalued. Often those who seem to rely on pure talent have actually in fact failed again and again before they found success. Again, take JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone got rejected at 12 different publishing companies before it was finally taken on. We all know what a hit that book and the six subsequent ones in the series were. JK Rowling is now the world's first billionaire author.
Another example of a highly successful person who failed repeatedly is Thomas Edison. He failed again and again before making arguably one of the world's most important inventions: the lightbulb. Here's how he talked about failure. He didn't even call it failure. He said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Again, failing is a learning experience. Even though it is painful and frustrating, it is highly valuable to fail. So get out there and start failing!
