The Road to Success Runs Through Failure

I’m learning to get more comfortable with failure. It isn’t easy. Nobody likes to fail, but everyone does. It’s an unavoidable part of the human experience.

The good news is that if we respond to failure the right way, it can move us closer to success. Many people don’t do that. Maybe you’ve experienced it yourself. You try something new, make a mess of it, and tell yourself, “Well, obviously I’m not meant to do that.” Then you never try again.

I’ve done that. I’m still tempted to do it sometimes. But it’s the wrong response. What we should do instead is learn from failure, adjust our approach, and try again. Then do it again. And again. That’s how progress happens.

Sounds simple, right? I can assure you, it’s much easier to talk about than to do.

Three Lessons Failure Can Teach Us

Michelle and I are certified with Maxwell Leadership. Every six months, the organization hosts the International Maxwell Conference, where thousands of Maxwell Leadership alumni gather to learn, grow, and welcome newly certified members. We just returned from the March 2026 conference in Dallas.

At this IMC, we celebrated the upcoming release of John Maxwell’s latest book, How to Get a Return on Failure. It’s always a highlight to hear John teach, and this time was no exception.

John shared that we often think of failure and success as opposites, separated by a wide gap. But that isn’t necessarily true. When we let failure teach us something, the distance between failure and success shrinks. Failure exposes flaws in our approach. If we identify those flaws, fix them, and try again quickly, improvement becomes inevitable. In some cases, the move from failure to success takes only a few cycles—maybe even one.

Lesson 1: Iterate quickly and effectively.
Observe your failures as objectively as you can. Analyze what went wrong, make the adjustment, and try again. Use failure to accelerate your learning and move yourself closer to success.

Brian Bosche was appointed President of Maxwell Leadership a few months ago, and this was our first time hearing him speak in that role. He shared a piece of advice worth passing along: as leaders—and especially as entrepreneurs—we must pass the test of rejection.

He explained that success often looks like a hockey stick. It trends upward, but very slowly at first. For a long time, the line appears almost flat. Then eventually, it takes off.

We all want that sharp upward rise. But what gets us there? There’s no magic formula. Still, Brian made one thing clear: before many people reach that point, they have to pass the rejection test.

He framed it with a question: Do I care more about what people think of me, or what they do because of me?

That question hits me. I care what people think of me. Maybe you do too. But I can’t let that be the driving factor in what I do. If you want to do meaningful work, you can’t either.

Brian told the story of developing a signature product with his business partner and then making cold calls to sell it. Their first call was a no. So was the second. And the third. In fact, the first 27 sales calls all ended in no.

Most people would have taken that as a sign to quit. Brian didn’t. He kept going. And the 28th call was a yes. So were the next eight.

Lesson 2: Pass the rejection test.
Don’t let what people might think of you keep you from offering your best work. Persevere through the no’s. They do not necessarily mean what you offer has no value. They may simply mean you need to adjust your approach—or that you haven’t found the right recipient yet.

Executive Vice President Chris Robinson might be my favorite member of the Maxwell Leadership team. He has a unique ability to deliver hard, unvarnished truth in a way that still leaves you believing you can do something with it.

Chris encouraged us to read biographies. Why? Because biographies are usually written about people who did something exceptional.

But he also pointed out that most biographies follow a familiar pattern: there’s a dream, there’s struggle, and then there’s success. In our context, that struggle often includes failure. That should tell us something. Failure is not an anomaly on the road to success. It is usually part of the road.

Lesson 3: Don’t try to dodge the pain of failure.
The only guaranteed way to avoid failure is to never attempt anything difficult. But that also means avoiding growth, adventure, success, and much of what makes life meaningful. Better to embrace the process: try, fail, learn, adjust, repeat.

My Takeaway

I started this piece by saying I’m learning to get more comfortable with failure. Learning. I still don’t enjoy it, and I probably never will. Mistakes sting. Rejection stings. Some failures still leave me feeling embarrassed.

But every time I get up, learn the lesson, and try again, I get a little stronger and a little wiser. That’s the process. Success usually doesn’t come without failure first. More often than not, it comes through it.