--- title: Failing forward turns setbacks into stepping stones created: 2024-11-18T09:18:12 modified: 2025-12-04T17:06:31 --- > _“Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat.” — Napoleon Hill_ > _“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan_ > _“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” — Samuel Beckett_ [^1] > _“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” — Henry Ford_ > _[“Failure is to be expected, not avoided. Failure is feedback, not judgment.” — Alex Hormozi](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexhormozi_10-truths-i-live-by-1-skills-stack-on-activity-7057390440928432128-SgO9/)_ > _“In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.” — [@kiyosakiRichDadPoor2002]_ --- You don’t have to get it right the first time. Just fail faster. --- **Failing Forward:** If you want to _win_, you have to _lose_ first. All _success_ begins with _failure_.

> _“One fails forward toward success.” — Charles Kettering_ > _“Failure is the highway to success.” — Og Mandino_ > _“Failure is success if we learn from it.” — Malcolm Forbes_ > _“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” — Truman Capote_ > _“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” — Dale Carnegie_ > _“You must expect failure as part of your journey of success, failure and success go hand in hand, you cannot have one without the other.” — Richard Parkes Cordock_ > _“When you double your rate of failure you double your rate of success.” — James Swanwick_ > _[“Legends aren’t defined by their success, they’re defined by how they bounce back from their failures.” — Chris Bosh](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21837726/)_ * Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success. Failure is success in progress. * Success comes from turning _setbacks_ into _comebacks_. --- # [The Museum of Failure](https://museumoffailure.com) > Museum of Failure is a collection of failed products and services from around the world. > > **Innovation needs failure.** All progress is built on learning from past failures and mistakes. The museum provides unique insight into the tricky business of innovation. > 「失敗是創新的必要條件 — 沒有足夠的失敗，就沒有真正的創造力。」 --- # 失敗，是未來的墊腳石，但成功，也可能是未來的絆腳石。 * Failure leads to learning, learning leads to success, success leads to complacency, complacency leads to failure. * Never let success get to your head. Never let failure get to your heart. * [不要太在意他人的批評，但也不要太眷戀別人的掌聲。因為批評會讓你想要逃跑，掌聲會讓你想要靠近，兩者都會讓你容易因他人而偏離了自我航道，忘了探索才是真正的工作目的。](https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010959928) --- [@XiaoYeZhu.YouXieShiZheXieNianWoCaiDongXiaoYeDeRenShengSiKao2012] > 人不是為成功而活，而是為了某種信仰而活。在有信仰的人心中，失敗正是堅定信仰的大好機會。[…] 失敗會讓人看清楚自己的恐懼、脆弱和盲點，也看到自己內心的熱情和渴望。 --- # The Donkey Mindset > One day, an old donkey falls into a deep well. > > The farmer tries to figure out what to do, but decides, given the age of the animal and the danger of the deep open well, that the best course of action is to fill the well and close it off. > > He begins to shovel dirt into the well. After several hours of work, the farmer is nearly done filling the well, when suddenly, to his amazement, the old donkey leaps out from the dirt-filled well and trots off into the pasture. > The farmer realizes: Rather than resigning itself to its fate with each shovel of dirt that hit its back, the donkey had shaken the dirt off and stepped up on top of it. > > As the farmer had continued to shovel dirt into the well, the clever donkey used the dirt to get closer to its escape. Life will inevitably throw dirt your way—challenges, setbacks, and all kinds of troubles and struggles. The key to rising above it is to shake off that dirt and use it as a stepping stone. Every obstacle we face can be transformed into an opportunity to climb higher. Even when you find yourself in the deepest well, remember this: _Shake it off, and take a step up._ Never give up. With determination and [resilience](resilience.md), you can turn every challenge into a path forward. --- 跌倒的時候不要馬上爬起來，先看看地上有沒有什麼寶貝可以撿。 --- Failure + [Reflection](reflect-and-review.md) + [Another Rep](deliberate-practice.md) = Competence --- Treat failure like a scientist. **Each attempt is an experiment. Each [mistake](mistake.md) is a clue.** You’re not failing. You’re refining. --- [A true transformation begins with a mental shift](a-true-transformation-begins-with-a-mental-shift.md) [^1]: Lost Better