Have you failed at something lately?  If you have, great job.  There isn’t anyone on this planet who can truthfully say they haven’t failed at something at some point in their life.

Failing is a natural part of the growing, maturing and development process of the human race.  We fail because we are growing, we are exploring and we want solutions to life’s problems. We were meant to be curious, and curiosity will eventually lead us to success, but failure is a part of it all.

Unfortunately, we were taught that our failures were a sign weakness, bad luck and bad attempts at trying to improve our lives. The very same mistakes that are a sign of our ongoing attempt at living have been used to discourage and undermine our efforts to become better people.

Whenever we fail, we are tempted to fall apart, get down on ourselves and feel like our lives are over.  We question our intelligence and reason for doing what we did in the first place.

“Failure is an event, not a person.” – Zig Ziglar

Since we all make mistakes, you must remember that the mistake is never the issue it’s the way you choose to deal with your emotions when you do.  You will feel bad when you fail, and that is normal but giving up on your dreams is never the right thing to do.

Below are 8 steps that will help to free you from the fear of making mistakes or assist you in forgiving yourself! Share this video if it resonates with you!

1. If you are not making mistakes, you aren’t trying

To improve and succeed at any task, you must be willing to take the risk and taking risk means you might fail.  It is only natural for you to feel bad when you do, but you must remember, that is a sign you are making an attempt to find solutions to life’s problems.  Do not dwell on those mistakes but use them as a learning tool.  Learn the lessons and move on.  If you learn the lessons from your mistakes, you won’t make them again, and you will become stronger, wiser and more experienced.

2. Everybody makes mistakes

As human beings, we are bound to mess up, and that does not exclude anyone.  There are no road maps for dealing with life.  We live our lives by trial and error, so we will make mistakes. Even if someone else has done the job before, to take it to another level you run the risk of making a mistake.  Do not be deterred by that, but view it as an indication you are on to something and something special. Look at what you have done and work harder, but do not give up. You will eventually succeed if you do not quit.

3. Your failures are signs you are improving

When you find that you are making mistakes doing the right thing, do not become disheartened, it could mean you are on the right track.  Be encouraged and motivated knowing that your mistakes are helping you to become better at what you are doing.  You will also become stronger and more knowledgeable.  Work hard to make sure your mistakes are better every time.

4. Your failure means you are very courageous

It takes courage to make an attempt at something you have no idea will work or not.  You are investing your time, energy and money into something you have no idea what the results will be.  Even though you might have failed, the fact that you gave it everything you’ve got says a lot about who you are as a person.  Being courageous doesn’t mean you won’t be afraid, it only means even though you are scared to death you are courageous enough to make an attempt.

5. Your failures make you much stronger

After you have failed a few times, you would have become so much more resilient.  When you have failed it is normal to be discouraged, frustrated and even angry but if you choose to get over your disappointment and anger, you will realize how much stronger you are.  You will also be more determined to succeed and to prove to yourself and others that you can indeed succeed.

“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki

6. Your failures help you to grow

When you have failed and have gotten over your disappointment, you are much more likely to dig deeper within you for strength you didn’t even know you had.  You will realize what you are truly made of and how resilient you are.  To become stronger and to grow you have to be stretched, and failure will help you to find within you the strength to continue.  Failure helps you move away from what is comfortable.

Many of us understand that sometimes things happen for a reason, and even though when we have failed the reasons aren’t necessarily clear at the time we know it does.  People who are open, will understand that their failure offers several other opportunities for them.  The saying when one door closes many more open is so true.  You must be willing to see the opportunities and go after them.  Failure is just one door closing with many more opening because of it.  Failure is never the end of your dream but the beginning of something bigger and better.

7. Your failures provide an opportunity for you to learn new things

Look at some of the most important people in history and see how they view failure. Thomas Edison said he didn’t fail he only found thousands of ways to solve the problem.  He was saying he was learning several other ways to solve the same problem.  This is the mentality you should develop.  Failure is not the end but an opportunity to learn something new and to try another method to solve the problem.

8. Your failure provides you with other solutions you never saw coming

If you never try you will never know if your ideas will work or not.  If you do not try, you will never know that you would have failed either, but it is better to have failed than to have regrets that you didn’t at least try.  Sometimes you are attempting to achieve something but the result is something totally different but even greater. Sometimes your failures turn out to be your best success story.

You will fail and continue to fail as long as you are prepared to attempt something foreign to you but do not give up.  Use your failures as stepping stone to your goals as the normal course of life and they should never be seen as a misfortune.

Use your failures as opportunities for further growth.

When you have hit a bad patch dig deeper, and you will eventually succeed if you do not give up.