Why is failure an inevitable step before achieving success?

In the pursuit of success, we often overlook one crucial element that paves the path to great achievements: failure. Moments of failure can be discouraging, disheartening, and even paralyzing. However, understanding that failure is an inevitable step towards achieving success is a total game changer.

Once we face failure, we have a choice - to let failure define us or to use it as a stepping stone for our personal growth. Once we fail, we gain valuable insight into our strengths as well as our weaknesses. Failure is a chance to reflect on what went wrong, why it happened, and how we can improve. It's important to understand that failure is not a dead end. Failure is more of a teacher, giving you invaluable lessons. There was once a famous quote of Thomas Edison: "I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Failure often opens doors. When things do not go as planned, individuals are pushed to think outside of the box and explore alternative solutions. Lessons learned from failure can be a source of inspiration when talking about shaping your own future, for example. In BBYO, we have a lot of opportunities to be active. It's either in your own region or on an international level. But, the opportunity to be active and be present in so many areas of leadership brings with it the opportunity of failure. A couple of months ago, my region elected our second regional board. I ran for N’siah. I was very hopeful and motivated, but when I saw the results, I was disappointed. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. At first, I was really, really sad.

Last year, I was only involved with BBYO because of my region. Except for International Convention, I had no interactions with other BBYO teens from all over the world. So, when I realized I was not on the regional board, I thought I had no other options to participate in BBYO whatsoever. But I went to BBYO.org/lead and explored ALL the options. I saw a lot of things I thought were very, very interesting, and applied for The Shofar, LGLA, committees, and the IC steering team. Now, I have the opportunity to have almost weekly calls with BBYO teens from all over the world. I have so much fun writing articles, planning programs, talking with mentors and coaches, and so on, and I'm so grateful for that.

Of course, I would be thrilled to be part of my regional board. But if I had been elected to our regional board, I would've never found the International Leadership Network, and I would not have had the opportunity to get to know teens from all over the world and do a lot of other things that I have a lot of fun doing right now.

Failure is not something to be feared or embarrassed of. As members of BBYO, but also just as young teenagers, we need to understand that failure is an inevitable step toward personal growth and achievement. You can use failure as a stepping stone towards your goals. Remember, the road to success is paved with both successes and setbacks, and it is your ability to learn from your failures that will ultimately lead you to greatness.