Shauna Moerke is…

Despite the harsh nature of the title, I’m not just trying to be mean. The reality of life is that for every person who succeeds at something, many others will fall short. Success wouldn’t be so coveted if everyone won every time. Society is built around this concept so the sooner people accept and understand it, the better.

That is not to say that most people are doomed to failure and will never achieve anything. All I’m saying is that people fail, don’t win, or aren’t good enough sometimes. Maybe even most of the time. Failure is not always a bad thing and it is inevitable that you will experience it. So what do you do about it? Well, you can either stop trying altogether so that you don’t fail at all, or you can choose to not give up.

WD-40 is called that because the inventor failed 39 times before arriving at that particular formula. Do you think Tiger Woods was winning golf titles from the first time he picked up a club? People who succeed don’t just fall into it. They fail, a lot, before they ever achieve success. If you interview for a job but don’t get hired, you can either get upset and frustrated, or you can ask yourself what you should have done better or what you were lacking. Better yet, you can ask the recruiter why you weren’t selected. If it’s because you didn’t interview well, go and read up on how to get better. If it is because you lacked a skill set, go out and learn it. When looking for a job, failure will be a constant companion. But sticking with it and learning from the failures is what will get you that new job.

For a great blog post about success from The Simple Dollar Blog, click here. Here’s another good one from the KnowHR blog.