Why Is Failure Important in Life? (30+ Reasons Why)

We face the prospect of failure every day. We may try out for a team but not make the cut, or we may take a test but not get the grade we wanted.

Whatever the circumstance, failure is always a possibility. However, that doesn’t mean we should avoid it at all costs. Most people believe it is important that we all have to go through it in our lives. But the question is why?

Here are interesting reasons why failure is important in life and how to use it to our advantage:

Failure is an experience every person has had to go through at some point in their life. Individuals often discount the experience of failure in their personal and occupational lives.

You can gain first-hand knowledge from experiencing failure

Failure can often bring feelings of embarrassment, disappointment, and sadness. Yet, when someone fails, this can be seen as a learning experience. One thing individuals can gain from experiencing failure is knowledge first-handed.

When an individual fails, knowledge of what went wrong can empower the individual to develop a new perspective of the situation. This knowledge can create new avenues for the individual that they did not consider before that can lead to success.

You can gain emotional insight into what it feels like to fail

In addition to a new perspective and potential avenues, individuals can gain emotional insight into what failure feels like. From experiencing these emotions, one can build and increase their resilience.

High levels of resilience can help individuals achieve success by familiarizing themselves with the process of failure and knowing what to expect and how to rebuild after.

One will become more adept at picking themselves up after one failure and try again through a new avenue once building up their resilience and knowledge.

Related: Real Life Examples of Resilience

You’ll realize that you must work hard to achieve your goals

Not only will failing help individuals gain knowledge, perspective, and resilience, but it will also allow them to come to the realization that they must work hard to achieve their goals. Individuals will recognize that achieving their goals will not happen overnight.

Related: Does Hard Work Pay off in the End? (25 Great Answers)

Doing so will take a great amount of effort and work, but this will not be something they are worried about due to their resilience and experience of already failing in the past.

Failing is essential if you want to succeed

Failing in life is important as it allows individuals personal and occupational growth, as well as the opportunity to create a plan that will lead them to success. Failing in life is essential if one wants to succeed.

Failure is important because, without it, we would not know success.

Failure and success are two sides of the same coin, so to speak. We need the one to have it compare to and be able to recognize the other. We understand things more when we have their opposite to contrast and compare them to.

Contrast helps us to understand things more completely and gives us a fuller picture. We can more easily understand what we do want by knowing what we don’t want.

Failure can show us our weaknesses and our strengths

Failure helps us see what we need to change, what needs to be improved, and what we need to let go of altogether. Failure can show us our weaknesses and our strengths. It can help us figure out what we’re passionate about and what we want to do with our lives.

Failure helps us to learn and grow

Failure is important in life because it helps us to learn and grow. If you never experience failure, you will never know how to overcome it. Failure teaches us perseverance and resilience, which are essential traits for success.

Every successful person has failed many times, but they have also learned from their failures and persisted until they achieved their goals. Failure is an important part of life; we can learn from our failures and use them to propel ourselves toward success.

Related: 50 Successful People Share the Best Advice They’ve Ever Received

Failure makes us stronger, better people

Failure is a fundamental part of life. It’s what makes us stronger, better people. Without it, we would never learn from our mistakes and grow as individuals.

Failure teaches us humility, persistence, and how to pick ourselves up after a setback. It’s also an important motivator, spurring us on to do better next time.

Failure allows us to pivot toward something that works

Failure is an essential part of life because it teaches us what doesn’t work and allows us to pivot toward something that does. It’s through failure that we learn tenacity and endurance. These traits are essential for success in any area of life.

Related: 55 Characteristics of Highly Successful People

Without failure, we wouldn’t be motivated to push ourselves to new limits and achieve our goals.

Failure can improve our chances of success the next time around

Failure is an important part of life because it teaches us invaluable lessons. It allows us to reflect on our mistakes and learn from them so that we can improve our chances of success the next time around.

Failure can also help us to develop grit and determination, which are essential traits for achieving our goals. Ultimately, failure makes us stronger and more resilient individuals.

You will gain humility

Failure is a fact of life, but it’s also an important experience for people. I’m not talking about that starry-eyed concept that “Everything happens for a reason.” I find that concept pretty gross, in fact.

I’m talking about the fact that failure is inevitable, and it gives us life-enriching perspectives and opportunities we wouldn’t have otherwise. One thing you get from failure is humility.

If you’re lucky, and you have developed coping skills to get you through the distress associated with a failure, then on the other side, what you will have gained is humility.

Humility is a great strength to have when you live as a social being—which humans are. When you can see yourself realistically, it gives you greater patience for others and releases you from the grip of a lot of anxieties.

Once you figure out that you no longer have to maintain a façade of perfection and you can rally from failures and mistakes, you can relate much better to the people around you.

It brings you clarity—see the bigger picture

When something you’ve tried ends in failure, it gives you a moment to evaluate the bigger picture.

The bigger picture includes values and goals. These things can shift over time, and while we’ve been plugging away trying to accomplish something, we might not have had the chance to really check in with ourselves to see if the task at hand is serving our bigger picture.

Once the rawness of the failure wears off, and you process your emotions around it, you’ll be able to pause and recalibrate before moving forward.

You might decide there are other ways to serve your bigger picture that lend more to your strengths; you might decide to take another stab at this goal, but you’ll have more information to help you succeed the next time.

Either way, the failure has served as a guidepost for your future plans.

You will be fueled to help others

Once we process a failure and learn more about our strengths, if we allow ourselves to fully experience humility, we can be honest with ourselves about those strengths and find ways to collaborate with others that highlight their strengths as well.

Let’s go back to the fact that humans are social and wired for connection. When we fail at something and experience the humility that goes with it, we’re better able to empathize with others.

You might feel compelled to offer support to someone else in your community who is experiencing a failure. You might now have information you can share with others about what works and doesn’t work to solve a given issue.

Humility will fuel you to share that information because by helping others, you can make use of that failure in a meaningful way.

Humans love making meaning of things—especially if those things illicit a strong emotional response from us, as failure often does. All of this will result in an increased sense of community with others.

Failure is how we grow

Failing at a task does not mean you have failed as a person. Failing at a task is necessary in order to learn.

If you forever stay within your comfort zone and don’t try to learn anything new, then sure, you probably won’t fail much. But you will also lead a much narrower, emptier life.

Failure teaches resilience

Babies do not immediately go from sitting to walking. They have to crawl, and stumble, and fall flat on their faces many times. By falling, they learn not only how to walk but also how to fall and get up again.

The same is true for all of us: We have to mess up sometimes so that we aren’t terrified of messing up and know how to get back on track afterward.

People who are not allowed to fail have a higher risk of mental illness

As a therapist, I see many clients who suffer anxiety, stress, depression, and imposter syndrome because they were not allowed to fail as children. Sometimes, it’s because of parents or teachers who demanded high grades or who saw low grades as the student’s personal fault.

Other times it’s because of social pressures that push everyone to conform and say the right thing, or else they’ll be rejected by their peers.

Another common cause is overprotective parents who try so hard to support and defend their child that the child grows up feeling helpless and unable to face life’s challenges on their own.

Failure teaches us compassion

Finally, it is through failure that we’re reminded most sharply of our own limitations. It humbles us, embarrasses us, and reminds us that we are vulnerable and can’t do everything on our own.

With a bit of self-reflection, this feeling helps us empathize with other people and their faults, too.

It is easier to be patient with someone else when they are going through the same struggle you once did. And you value kindness more when you have been the one who needed it in the past.

Failure is momentum—it allows us to move towards something, no matter how small

When we risk the notion of failing, we release ourselves from the fear of doing something instead of feeling weighed down with the paralysis that prevents us from doing anything. This release allows us to move towards something—no matter how small.

Instead of looking at the worst-case scenarios, including failure that prevents us from taking a step, we can consider the best that can happen, which leads to movement.

Failure permits us to “move about the cabin.” This movement leads to creativity and innovation that remain untapped if we don’t allow ourselves the chance to fail.

Failure leads to a discovery about ourselves and others that, without failure, we may never know. Failure under our belts frees us up to keep going and doing the very things we fear.

Failure encourages us to become more adaptable and flexible

When we experience failure and see that the sky doesn’t fall, we increase our resilience and sharpen our encouraging attitudes to go after what we want, even if we still fear failure.

Related: Overcoming Fear of Failure (Avoid these 3 Mistakes)

Failure encourages us (and sometimes forces us) to become more adaptable and flexible, which is necessary to build resilience. It prepares us for challenges when things don’t go as planned that immediate success doesn’t necessarily provide.

Failure can also release us from the expected outcome while freeing us up to simply enjoy the process (since we often can’t control the outcome but can control our efforts).

Failure in and of itself is not who we are

If you are still not convinced about the benefits of failure, perhaps redefining failure in one’s own mind is a great first step. We can look at our attempts as an experiment reminding ourselves that we can’t fail experiments.

The purpose of experiments is to learn something. When an experiment doesn’t go as planned or as we hoped, it simply means that the opportunity presents itself to observe more and develop a new plan to further pursue the learning.

An important reminder when it comes to failure is that failure is not a character flaw, nor does it define us. While we can recognize that the severity of mistakes runs on a continuum, failure in and of itself is not who we are.

If we are working towards a goal or learning new things, just as a scientist conducting an experiment, we are bound to have a mishap along the way. Often, we learn much more deeply and profoundly from our mistakes than from anything else.

Learning what we don’t want via failure can be even more profound than smoothly being shown immediately what we do want when failure isn’t part of the equation.

Related: 39 Habits of Successful People (the Ultimate List)

Failure is a stepping stone

Failure makes you stronger. When we fail, we learn what doesn’t work. We figure out how to avoid repeating mistakes. We become smarter.

People who’ve experienced much success and fame later in life often say they failed a lot in their youth. They had to go through many failures in school, relationships, or jobs to succeed.

Failure provides perspective

You are born into this world without having had any previous experience. But when you acquire such experience, everything changes; your perspective shifts.

The more you fail, the better you get at it. And that’s why failure is essential in life. It helps us grow as human beings.

Failure teaches humility

Success breeds complacency, which leads to arrogance. But when you fail, you realize that you don’t know everything.

You have to admit that you need help from others. Failure provides humility. It’s humbling to be reminded of your limitations. If you allow others to help, you become less arrogant and open to learning and bettering yourself.

Failure builds confidence

If you’re afraid of failing, you’ll never try anything new. And if you never try something new, you’ll never grow as an individual. So failure is critical because it helps you develop courage.

Courage is being able to face your fears, build self-confidence, and take risks. Without risk, there can be no growth.

You may have learned some unsuccessful ways that you would not use again

Failure means we did not succeed in our initial attempt at whatever it might be. It does not mean we will have lack of success at every attempt. It also does not mean we will be unsuccessful as a person for the rest of our life no matter what we try.

So many people stop after their initial attempt because they’ve convinced themselves (or others have told them) that a lack of success occurring in their life either means it will happen every time or that they are a failure.

You are not a failure. You may have learned some unsuccessful ways that you would not use again.

I know it is extremely difficult not to tie our worth to productivity, success or what we can or have produced. I know it is extremely necessary to unwire that narrative.

We get in our own way when we procrastinate. Maybe it’s not procrastination, and a more honest statement is that you like/prefer to work under pressure, and you get a rush when you can still meet a deadline. Maybe you don’t work well if there isn’t a deadline. Great.

Make one for yourself and work towards it. Maybe it’s not procrastination, and it is your intuition trying to guide you away from doing something that isn’t aligned for you.

Take failures and rejections as a lesson instead of a sign that you are a failure as a person. Your mistakes don’t define you. Consider them as teachers, learn the lesson, and try again!

Every failure can be a step to success because it is not the end of the road

In life, we try to achieve success and avoid failure, but failure may have its own benefits.

Because success brings happiness, we tend to accept it rather than examine it. Yet failure can lead to self-reflection, self-examination, and an analysis of what may have gone wrong and what could be improved.

These reflections, examinations, and analyses give us a deeper understanding of ourselves and new insights into our world.

Both success and failure come in multiples during a lifetime, and sometimes great successes only arrive after multiple failures. As the inventor Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Edison also insisted, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Continuing to pursue success after multiple failures shows resilience, which is our ability to bounce back from trauma and keep going.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal,” said Winston Churchill, “It is the courage to continue that counts.”

Every failure can be a step to success because failure is not the end of the road but a step on the road. As Helen Keller believed, “A bend in the road is not the end of the road… unless you fail to make the turn.”

Using our innate capacity for change, failures, when examined, can become turning points to success and possibly even greater achievement than we ever imagined.

It is through failure that we grow

Failure is important for multiple reasons. The absence of failure implies an unwillingness to learn and an irrational assumption that you must know everything.

F.A.I.L. can be seen as the acronym: First Attempt In Learning.

Trying and being incorrect should be as rewarded, if not more than not trying at all. People of all ages today feel more inclined to avoid than to try and fail because the humiliation of failure feels worse than any risk of success.

As a result, we have a population of developmentally stunted people. It is through adversity that we build pride and confidence. By doing something hard and being challenged and overcoming that challenge, we build pride.

In his early weightlifting days, Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” It is through failure that we grow. Just like a muscle is torn in weightlifting grows back fuller and bigger.

We often hear that failing is a learning opportunity. And though that’s hard to recognize when it’s upon us, failing truly does provide room for growth.

It builds resilience

When we fail at something, we build our muscles of resilience. Resilient people are known to have a “cup half full” mentality and can push forward, even if it means walking the path less traveled.

That statement makes it very clear just how important and impactful resilience is. The more resilient we are, the further we can go!

It opens opportunities

Sometimes, we think we should be on one path, but failure has another plan. Failing gives us the chance to see new opportunities our minds might not have been open to previously. And often, those new opportunities are the ones we really want to be driving for.

Think about this: After experiencing failure, reflect on why you failed. Ask yourself, “What was out of my control, and what was in my control?” “How can I learn from this experience?” and “What doors were opened throughout the process?”

Reflecting on how the past allows us time and understanding of how failing has shaped us. It allows us to recognize our weaknesses and lean into our strengths, ultimately giving us the opportunity to see our future in a new, uplifting way.

So, while failure is disheartening and discouraging when it’s happening, it also serves us. We can allow ourselves to be saddened by failing and know, in the back of our minds, that it means something better will come.

It’s not the end; it’s simply a stepping stone on the path to success

In life, we are constantly faced with challenges and obstacles. Some we overcome easily, while others may seem impossible at first. However, it is imperative to remember that failure is not the end but simply a stepping stone on the path to success.

One of my favorite quotes from Winston Churchill is, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Basically, if you are not failing, you are not trying hard enough. Those who are afraid of failing will never truly master anything in life because it is only through failure that we can learn and grow.

When a toddler is learning to walk and falls over, do we tell him to just give up? No, we encourage him to try again. So why don’t we do this with adults? You either win, or you learn, and those who choose to learn from their failures and keep going are the ones who succeed.

Don’t be afraid to fail—it is only through failure and perseverance that we can achieve true greatness.

Failure makes us resilient

Without failure, you would not know what success feels like.

After all, we all fail until we succeed. Even elite athletes started out not so great and worked on perfecting their craft. Why should anyone think otherwise?

Without failure, success wouldn’t be so sweet. There is admiration for those who succeed because we all know how hard a task it is.

Imagine if you never failed. Everything you touched was a success? Soon, you would lose motivation. It is the risk that makes things worth doing.

Failure is important for many reasons; it makes one dig deep and separates those who are willing to take a risk and go for it from the procrastinators and the dabblers.

I like the notion, “Each failure gets us a step closer to success.”

We may have heard the term “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” which originated with Friedrich Nietzche.

There is some truth to that statement. People think of failure as the epitome of wrong. That if they fail, there is something wrong with them.

They aren’t good. They aren’t worthy. They aren’t successful. After all, how can you be successful if you fail to succeed? But failure in life isn’t only inevitable but also essential.

But why is failure important in life?

It shows we are human

Nash Grier said, “As humans, we’re going to make mistakes. It’s what makes us human, and most of the time, the most effective way of learning is from a mistake.”

Don’t be scared to make a mistake for fear of being judged, scorned, or otherwise made distraught by this experience. After all, can you name one person that has never made a mistake?

This is highly doubtful. Don’t be afraid to be human.

Knowing what not to do helps us realize what we need to do

One of the most important things we learn from our mistakes is what not to do. Suppose you need to make a phone call to your dad, but you accidentally dial the wrong number, and a woman picks up the phone.

That’s not your dad, is it? You realize this number isn’t correct, and you learn not to redial this number. Though this example seems simple, it illustrates how easy it can be to learn from our mistakes.

Mistakes are a great motivator

It’s challenging to do something and get it wrong, especially when we repeatedly try and fail. Sure, when you are doing something unsuccessfully, it can feel very stressful.

But all of that stress seems to melt away when we finally succeed at what we were trying to accomplish.

The lack of success in our efforts is what helps motivate us, as Frank Sinatra said, to “pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.”

Many of us have had the unfortunate experience of being punished for our mistakes while growing up.

Some of us may remember the fear of making a mess because of how our parents would react to it, while others may just block that part of their childhood to protect themselves from these memories.

As a result, people have developed the thinking that failure is a direct consequence of our actions that needs punishment in order to be remedied. Even as adults, people fear failure because of its possible repercussions in our lives.

Difficult as it may be, I believe it’s about time we change our perception of our failures. The best way to learn how to live your life the way you want it to be is through these mistakes.

Learning from it encourages you to face your mistakes

When I make mistakes, I try not to focus on what resulted from it but on what I learned from it.

Enriching your life with true positivity and growth encourages you to face your mistakes and see how you can use them as an opportunity to prevent others from making the same mistakes you have in the past.

Ultimately, what results from our mistakes is beyond our control. As humans, we are inadvertently making mistakes as our lives go by. There is simply no way for us to live a happy life by punishing ourselves for each one of them.

So, don’t be afraid of making a mess! There is beauty in taking your mess as an opportunity to learn how you can clean it and how you can help others clean their own messes as well.

Without failure, there is no progress

Failure will happen at one time in your life. It will happen. There’s no way around it. But, the great Michael Jordan said, “I failed over and over and over again…and that is why I succeeded.” Meaning, failure is not quitting!

Read that again. Failure is not quitting.

If you fall down seven times and get up the eighth, you did fail the first seven—don’t get it twisted. But getting up is perseverance! Thomas Edison conducted 1000 failed experiments before he invented the light bulb.

Without failure, there is no progress. Without progress, there is no commitment. Without commitment, there is no consistency. Without consistency, there would be no courage. Without courage, there would be no change.

So, realize that every great feat lies on the back of failure. Everything we enjoy, we once failed at first. That’s why I love failure.

As painful as it is, failure is an inevitable and essential part of life. Many of us go to great lengths to avoid failing because of the fear of disappointment, shame, embarrassment, or feeling worthless.

But failing doesn’t always imply you are at fault or inadequate. What failure really indicates is that there is something to learn, to improve, or that there is a different direction to take.

Failure is easier to learn from than triumph because it allows you to examine what isn’t working and take the necessary action. Feeling like a failure in life consumes a lot of energy and can manifest in various ways.

One way or another, most of us feel upset after a failure but what I’ve learned from it is that it makes your next shot more certain and your counteractions more assured.

So here are some of the reasons why I believe failing is necessary in life:

It’s a chance to know yourself better and assess your capabilities

Just because you fail in an area you think is a strong fit doesn’t mean it isn’t one of yours. Perhaps reevaluating and taking a step back can help you discover more about yourself, your abilities, and your capabilities.

With a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, you will know which area you must work on and improve on. Not only that you can strengthen your weak side, but you can also toughen your strong side.

Personal growth and development are just two of the many good things that surface from failures, but to learn from them, you must pay close attention and deeply reflect.

Failure helps in building resilience

Resiliency is working through setbacks by doing what you can to keep going. Resilience is a valuable trait to cultivate because it allows a person to cope with adversities and hardships in life.

Failure aids in the development of resilience because it gives us a chance to bounce back, adapt, evolve, and rise from a crisis. Resilient people are more likely to take risks and strive for their goals because they embrace challenges and are not afraid of failures along the road to success.

Failure helps us grow and innovate

Failing at anything, unbelievably, helps us to develop and learn to be better individuals.

When we fail, we identify what went off the track, and we recognize that we can’t keep on doing the same thing. This will give us a better understanding and new perspectives, leading to growth and innovation.

Keeping a growth mindset allows us to see beyond obstacles and identify opportunities to improve, reinvent ourselves and transform our circumstances.

Failure teaches us about values

Our ideals are changed by every minuscule or significant shift in our life.

Over time, our values evolve. One of the most important lessons that failure can teach us in our life is the importance of values. While success may easily cloud our judgment, defeat keeps us grounded.

When we fail, we often reach out to others for help, which can be a lesson in humility and interpersonal skills. Values are at the heart of success, and the lack of them is a key component of failure. Values influence our behavior and personality and help us live with direction and purpose.

The rise from failure to success is not simple, but it is well worth the effort. So, even if you fail frequently, rise up, face failure in the eyes, and never give up trying.

The fear of failure immobilizes us by causing us not to act and robs us the chance to explore what life has to offer. Avoiding failure is avoiding growth, triumph, and success.

Failure allows us to learn for ourselves what works and what does not

There is no real success without failure. The road to success is paved with failed attempts and obstacles.

Struggle is natural in life and even more so in business. Failure allows us to learn for ourselves what works and what does not. Without this teacher, many of us would settle for aspirations beneath our dreams or vision. It looks different for everyone.

Some professionals are tempered by failure to be even more sure of themselves and their desired trade. Meanwhile, others fail once at what they love and believe they will never pick it up again.

The truth is that failure builds up all of our stories in the background. The choices we didn’t make and the opportunities we didn’t take become a framework for the snapshot of the lives we aspire to every day.

In many ways, the “nos” we hear are just as important as the “yeses” in teaching each of us what we should do.

Failure is a critical part of everyone’s life from infants to adulthood. Failure has two main purposes: To refine processes and to build resilience.

It refines the process of what you went through

An example of refining processes would be a baby learning to roll, crawl, and walk. Each is a milestone in human mobility that took tons of failure and figuring out how not to do it before conquering it.

Every time the kid fails to make the full roll or take that first step, they unconsciously make tiny adjustments in force or balance that help them find another failure and another adjustment repeatedly until they succeed and eventually are running and jumping, ever refining the process.

This can be directly correlated to starting a business or any other ambition throughout your life.

First, the kid fails to have money to buy shoes; they trade their drink at lunch for 50¢ to another kid; when that fails to be enough, they open a lemonade stand. If that fails to meet their needs, they hire their friends and open more stands, and so on and so forth.

You build resilience

The second part, building resilience, is equally important and goes hand in hand. Once you fail thousands of times at small stuff, it teaches you to push through the failures because you know there is something better once you figure out a way not to fail.

The best example of this is in sales, especially cold calling.

If you build resilience through countless failures, you know you are only one more phone call away from success. If you haven’t failed enough, you likely will give up too early.

Most people quit right before they succeed because they don’t understand failure is just a part of the process.

Every little failure brings you closer to the next big success

In conclusion, we should all strive to fail more. Remember that every little failure brings you closer to the next big success. There’s not a single person who achieved greatness without first failing more times than we’ll ever know.