How your big failure can lead to an even bigger triumph

Have you seen that movie about the woman who has to do this huge thing and fails and then digs deep and tries again and triumphs spectacularly? Me too! It was amazing! 

Failure is a part of any great venture. If you’re not failing on a semi-regular basis you’re not taking enough risks. 

Around Christmas I shared the story of a huge failure that changed the course of my writing journey and led to a publishing deal. Today I want to share another woman’s story with you. 

This woman devoted her youth to competitive figure skating, but quit when she didn’t make the U.S. Olympic team at age 19. After college she worked at Vogue for 17 years, with the goal of becoming editor-in-chief. When the position went to someone else she left the magazine. 

The following year she got engaged, but couldn’t find a wedding dress she loved. She stepped into the competitive bridal fashion industry at age 40 and opened her first bridal boutique. Her vision for sophisticated wedding gowns propelled Vera Wang to the fashion icon she is today.

Sometimes you fail and try again and get better and achieve your goal. Other times you fail and reassess and channel your time and energy toward a new goal. Both are valuable. 

Failure is not fun. And in the moment the last thing you want is someone telling you how it’s for the best and something good will come out of it. But after you’ve had some time to cry it out and you’ve washed the ice cream off your face, take everything you learned from that failure and apply it to your next big challenge.