When you learned to walk (a very important life skill that you probably now take for granted), you fell down over and over again. Your ability to walk was developed through determination and consistent trial and error. You kept making mistakes until you had a breakthrough and could walk.

Since then, somewhere along the way, most of us learned to label our mistakes as "failures." But a mistake isnt a failure unless you quit. The only way a normal child would fail to learn to walk is if they "give up" instead of "get up."

Heres a grown up example. If you have a desire to listen to a specific radio station and, in the process, you turn your dial too far, you might end up with static. Does that cause you to give up? Of course not.

If youre turning the dial, you will have to pass numerous unwanted stations (mistakes) in order to reach your desired target. Each time you pass a station thats not the one you want, you get clear and valuable feedback that lets you know you have not reached your goal yet.

Learning to walk and radio station hunting are just two example of how you dont need to look at mistakes as failures. "Not" achieving your goal yet is just part of the process of getting there. It serves the purpose of giving you feedback as you go from mistake to mistake to mistake to mistake to mistake to breakthrough.