It’s the practice that gives us all the benefits. There’s nothing good that comes from failure. If there’s one piece of advice I can give my apprentice, it would be: don’t fail. I’m not at all against trying forever, but this should be with a genuine desire to win from the first attempt, because failure is really bad, and there are no lessons to be learned from it. Still we shouldn’t settle for less or give up ambition because of the natural fear of failure.

The ugly truth is that failure is something that is purely bad, despite the entire self-help industry of the twentieth century and beyond trying to convince you otherwise. Only willpower and trying until you make it makes you succeed. Having failed before that adds you no benefit at all, and it doesn’t fuel you to succeed more. I’d rather succeed from the first attempt than fail for years, because the latter – contrary to popular belief – does not make me stronger or better in any way, shape, or form. This doesn’t mean that getting stuff easily like in inheriting millions is better. It only means that if Mark Zuckerberg failed for 20 years before he managed to make Facebook a success, he wouldn’t have been better or stronger than he is now. In fact, you can argue that he might have ended up being way worse than he could ever be, that is assuming he didn’t give up or end up severely depressed because it’s hopeless or pointless to persist or even try. Only really hardcore losers think that failing repeatedly is a good thing.
Don’t be afraid of failure as in don’t let your fear deter you from doing great things or trying to reach favorable outcomes. But that doesn’t mean that you being fearless is because there’s nothing to be afraid of, for failure, especially when is repetitive, successive, or occurring many times in a row, is insanely harmful to you in every way imaginable.
Dream big, stay ambitious, never give up or quit, but at the same time, don’t fail. Try your best not to fail by any means necessary.