How to Use Your Failures to Move You Forward

September 30, 2015

 

It n ever feels good to fail at something in life, but the truth is,  failure WILL happen . And when it does, you have a choice. You can learn How to Use Your Failures to Move You Forward or let them stop you from achieving your dreams.  Think about something you have failed at in life. How did you react to that failure, or respond to it? Did you pout, cry and give up on your dreams, or did you grow and learn from it and try another avenue? As long as you get back up you still have a chance to succeed.

How to Use Your Failures to Move You Forward:

1.  Remember that failure is an event, never a person.  When people see themselves as the failure, they tend to mentally beat themselves up to the point of no return. Meaning, they give up on their dreams, because they feel that THEY are the reason for the failure and it wasn’t meant to be. You were born to win. Otherwise, you would wake up every day with the desire to fail. In your failures, recognize that the particular avenue you took didn’t work for you, but another approach may work better. Therefore, it’s the event that failed….not you. You can still succeed, as long as you see yourself as a winner. 

2.  Use what you’ve learned from your mistakes to your advantage .  With every failure comes a lesson. Look at what you did wrong and correct those actions. Also look at what you did right and continue to do so. Thomas Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Don’t let your obstacles become your excuses. With failure comes growth. You WILL pass failure on your way to success, so take the time to learn from it when you do.

3.  Take actions to move you forward right away.  Do NOT think you need to take time to recover from the failure. Don’t stop. Don’t cry over it. Don’t throw yourself a pity party. Write down what worked. Write down what didn’t. Write down your next plan of action and then GO FOR IT! If you don’t, someone else out there will work hard enough to achieve YOUR dreams. The moment you give up and say, “I can’t”, is the same moment that someone else says, “I can.” Getting back in the game right away is called  perseverance, and obstacles develop perseverance. 

Your failures can either move you forward, closer to your goals or stop you from ever reaching them. The obstacles you face on the way to success aren’t there to stop you…they exist to show you if you have what it takes to make it all the way. The choice is yours. Success or Failure. I don’t know about you, but I choose success.

Tweet it!

 Obstacles develop perseverance.
Click To Tweet


About Betsy: Featured on FOX, CBS, NBC, and ABC, Betsy Allen Manning is a high-energy leadership keynote speaker and workplace culture strategist who equips organizations across corporate, franchise, association, non-profit, and government sectors to develop high-achievers, high-impact leaders and high-purpose cultures. Through her national workplace research and DNA Activation Framework, she delivers data-backed, high-interaction keynote presentations and workshops that strengthen performance, leadership, and retention. Betsy is also the founder of Destination Workplace™, an award-winning leadership training company in Dallas, trusted by some of the world's most elite brands nationwide.


 

Betsy Allen-Manning

Leadership Speaker | Best Selling Author | Human Behavior Expert

www.BetsyAllenManning.com

 

By Betsy Allen-Manning February 3, 2026
Learn how to embed leadership excellence into your organization’s DNA to drive accountability, performance, culture, and retention at every level.
By Betsy Allen-Manning January 25, 2026
Discover why leadership capability is now the biggest driver of retention, culture, and performance in the 2026 workplace.
By Betsy Allen-Manning January 20, 2026
Job candidates ghosting you? Learn how to stop fishing for talent and start attracting candidates by improving your employee experience and becoming a Destination Workplace™.
By Betsy Allen-Manning January 13, 2026
Promoting high performers without leadership readiness is costing organizations trust, retention, and performance. Learn the leadership shift that changes outcomes.
By Betsy Allen-Manning January 6, 2026
Leadership burnout isn’t about working too hard. It’s about absorbing what isn’t yours. Learn how discernment and boundaries reset leadership effectiveness.
By Betsy Allen-Manning December 30, 2025
Close the Purpose Deficit: connect daily work to mission, boost engagement, reduce burnout, and build a culture where people matter.
By Betsy Allen-Manning December 16, 2025
Discover 5 signs you’re a toxic leader—gossip, nepotism, fear, ego, avoidance—and practical fixes to rebuild trust, retention, and culture fast.
By Betsy Allen-Manning December 9, 2025
How new leaders build or break trust in the first 90 days using the Trust Equation—integrity, consistency and visibility to boost retention.
By Betsy Allen-Manning December 2, 2025
Pulpit or boardroom, this is the most powerful leadership DNA combination: Trust. Integrity. Purpose. Consistency. Humility.
By Betsy Allen-Manning November 25, 2025
Is rapid growth quietly cracking your company’s foundations? Discover how scaling too fast harms productivity, people, profits and purpose.