Agreed! If you never fail, how will you learn? No risk, no reward.

There's an entire school of thought that agrees wholeheartedly with you, Fred (and some pundits and coaches make part of their livings preaching it, which is not a bad thing). I think there's a lot of truth to it. But it's also hard for most people to shake that natural inclination to be concerned about messing up. So perhaps the answer for many might be -- as it often is -- to balance the two: Acknowledge and mitigate the fear of failure with the awareness that if you do fail, it ultimately can benefit you if you use it correctly.

Attribution -- the post above about the "school of thought" is mine; I'm not sure why my profile login keeps phasing in and out. I'm usually logged in continuously, but occasionally it bugs out, which is why my post above was anonymous. I'll cop to it. Best, David Abeshouse

When I was a kid growing up upstate, a "rite of passage" was going to a spot known as fawn's leap which is a 25-30 ft. or so waterfall on a little mountain creek that drops into a pool water that is just deep enough to avoid killing yourself. I can still remember the first time I stood at the edge when I was 16 and thinking to myself "if you never try you can never fail. What a horribly boring way to go through life." Then I took that leap of faith. I survived to tell the tale and wound up going back there a number of times after that day. In hindsight as an adult that was not a terribly well thought out risk. However, if you never challenge yourself to overcome your fears you'll never achieve your potential in life.

Well said!

Best lessons and most change comes from plans that don't work out. It's easy to repeat what you know. It is also stagnating.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then give up. There's no use in being a damn fool about it."
- W.C. Fields

My son, Robbie, led a charmed life (no luck, just achievement) I was secretly pleased when he failed his first road test, at the age of just turned 16. I knew it would teach him humility...and it did! ps- he continues to succeed in his endeavors!

If that's your biggest failure in life, Fred, then you've led a charmed life indeed.

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Thomas Edison

You failed the bar exam? :)

We face several kinds of failure.
Fred emphasizes the result of trying and not getting as positive an outcome as one would like; one learns a lot and builds on that experience and better outcomes result.
Other failures involve not from trying to succeed/ achieve but result from not trying; not doing; from certain bad choices - some on top of others.
As to a bar exam, failure usually means not successful enough, as in succeeding in many questions just not enough; again something that can be built upon.
Thus for me Failure involves more the act of not-trying. You step up to the plate and Scott Bloom fires three straight strikes and Fred goes down swinging; no failure in that; just a challenge for the next at bat......

Going down swinging is certainly much less of a failure than watching a called third strike go by with the bat sitting on your shoulders. Corey is right. If you try you can at least say THAT. Baseball is a game of failure. The greatest hitter of all time (in my humble opinion) was named Ted Williams. The Splendid Splinter playing for the Red Sox was the last man to hit over .400 in modern times. .406 to be exact. The year was 1941 and no one has hit over .400 since. That translates to FAILING to get a hit in 6 out of 10 tries. Over a decade later in May of 1952 Marine Corps Aviator Ted Williams went into combat over North Korea as a member of VMF-311 and flying the F9-F Panther. He earned the Air Medal with two gold stars after flying 37 missions in combat. One does not survive combat or life by keeping the bat on your shoulders. Life is about trying. Not about failing. You have to swing to get a hit. So as I look back I can say that succeeding 4 times out of 10 is a very cool batting average. I can hang in there with that I believe. Hoo Yah !!

Hollander Sends

Ted could have sat out the last day as his average rounded off to .400, but insisted on playing both games of the double header and went 6 for 8!

Failure is success if we learn from it.
Malcom Forbes

If the thing you wish to do is right and you believe in it, go ahead and do it! Put your dream across, and never mind what "they" say if you meet with temporary defeat, for "they," perhaps, do not know that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.
Napolean Hill

Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.