If you’re reading this, congrats to you for surviving the longest week ever. I am beyond exhausted, but I’m here! This week at work I kinda sorta made a huge mistake. Not a “there goes my job” mistake, but more like a “guess I’m skipping lunch today” mistake. It wasn’t fatal, but it definitely got me sweating and rubbing off my lipstick (nervous habit). It was good for me, though. Believe it or not, sometimes a good face plant is exactly what the doctor ordered. Here’s 4 reasons why:

Failure exposes your weak points.
Everyone has read the warning label on an appliance and thought honestly, what clodpole is getting in the bath tub with a blow dryer? But you know what, someone did it. And that someone probably sued that company. And that company realized it needed to place the warning label there to combat liability. Sometimes it takes oops! moments to show you weak points in your strategy. Sometimes you don’t know you need something until, well, you need it.

You need that humble pie.
There’s an old cliché that says something to the effect of “nobody trains harder than the guy who came in second place”. Staying on top and always doing well can be a breeding ground for arrogance. I mean, look at Floyd Mayweather. He’s a great fighter, but his character is detestable. Every now and then you need that reminder that you are, in fact, a mere mortal, and you should live in a space of gratitude. All your external assets can be taken from you in an instant. It’s good to be reminded of that every now and again so you don’t take them for granted.

Failure eliminates The Fear Factor
I remember one time I went to summer camp (KAA! YOU KNOW!) and I did the treetops course. That thing had to be 300 feet in the air. I have a mild fear of heights. I’m sure you’re catching my drift. I was trembling uncontrollably on the tight line, desperately afraid to fall. Needless to say, I fell. I was positive I was gonna die on the way down. But I didn’t. I pulled myself back up and finished the course. And guess what? I wasn’t afraid to fall anymore, because I had done it, and I was okay. Falling wasn’t the unknown for me anymore, so I wasn’t afraid of it, because I knew I could recover. If you didn’t catch that metaphor drop me a comment, but I’m sure you did, smarty pants. 😉

Failure Gives You Grace and Gravitas
“Failure is information,”- Myleik Teele, Owner and CEO of Curlbox.
You need to go through a situation- the good and the bad- to have the tools necessary to deal with a situation. The first or second or third time you do something, you will most likely do it poorly because you are on the low end of the learning curve. Your fumbling around is showing you what it takes to do it well. Lessons learned the hard way stick to you like sushi rice. After you lick your wounds, you will have the gravitas to endure a similar situation with style and grace and way less kicking and screaming and sweating than you did the first time.

Xoxo Kaisha