Success and Failure are Inseparable 

C.S Lewis wrote that, “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.”  A fingerpost is a post bearing one or more signs, often terminating in a pointing finger.  Our failures are finger posts.  They provide needed direction and increase our understanding or knowledge.  So failure really is a guide and a gateway to success. 

As you move forwarding in pursuit of your prize, keep these five realities in mind:

1. Failure increases empathy
2. It is not about other people, you own it
3. Heat assures the outcome
4. Prepare for the recoil 
5. Success and failure are inseparable

Always Fail-Forward

I have never fired a gun but I have observed that for a first-timer the biggest thing they experience is the recoil from the blast. Frankly, it can be painful if they don’t hold the weapon properly. Failure has its own recoil experience. Shock and fear are the most common expressions. We feel shock because we didn’t anticipate that we would fail and fear because pain makes us want to avoid that feeling in the future.  Benjamin Franklin’s advice, “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”  When we fail we must not recoil, but instead fail-forward.

The Heat of Failure Assures the Outcome

My sister-in-law is a sculptor. She can take a piece of clay and fashion it into a dynamic object. She first shapes the clay into the object she envisions and then puts it in a 2400 degree oven to strengthen her creation. Failing in life has similar properties.

When we fail we need to take the heat and ask ourselves hard questions so we can improve the next time we set out. Three questions I ask of myself are:

• Did I really give all the effort I could have?
• Did I seek the advice of experts?
• Did I disregard a nagging caution?

In the words of Bill Gates, “Its fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”