Failure Essay

Elizabeth Booth
1/9/15
ACT Prep
I believe that failure leads to success. There is no doubt in my mind that one cannot succeed without failing. People view failure as a step back or as a halt in progress, but I cannot disagree more. Failure is actually a step forward or progress towards your goal. Never giving up greatly increases your chances of success. Never giving up means you repeatedly fail and learn from your mistakes and move on. When we accept failure as progress we get closer and closer to our goal as we learn more and more how to succeed. In other words, failure shows you how you cannot succeed, which, in essence, shows you how you can succeed. Failure is what makes us better. Without failure one does not improve. If one does not improve then one cannot succeed. I believe that failure goes hand in hand with success. This belief has influenced my views on life and has greatly helped me to accomplish some of my goals. Specifically, one of my goals as a child was to learn to snap my fingers. For days, I attempted to snap my fingers and found no success. If I had to guess, I would say I failed at least 500 times. Every time I failed I made an improvement. It was those tiny tweaks which led to a very happy moment in my life: my first successful snap. It is these changes that one makes, the improvements from one trial to another which leads to success. It is this underestimated and undervalued trial and error process which helps us succeed. Regardless of one’s interpretation of success, there is no doubt that one cannot succeed without failing. Failure is one of the most fundamental building blocks of success. And therefore, I conclude that failure must lead to success.