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There are numerous examples throughout history of successful, famous people with a history of failing over and over again without giving up. People like Milton S. Hershey, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven Spielberg all had multiple failures before finding fame and this fact is not a coincidence. It takes a specific type of person to achieve greatness. Their constitution is broken down into several traits that they all have in common. They have to be motivated, creative, persuasive, flexible, and decisive, to name a few. They must also be the type of person unafraid to take risks. Without risk, there would be no success, but it also means failure is a possibility. Failure is another component of being a success.

The secret lies in the ability to get back up after falling down. By seeing failure as a learning opportunity instead of an undefeatable loss is what separates winners from losers. There are many psychological exercises that prove this theory. 100% of the time, when faced with failure, the first step of dealing with it is acceptance, then and only then can you can make the necessary changes needed to guide your next attempt. Life is always going to have moments of pain, but it can be exacerbated by a lack of acceptance. Pain plus non-acceptance equals suffering. When someone is trapped in a cycle of suffering, they cannot think logically enough to make positive forward-thinking decisions. Accept the pain, take the lesson learned, then move on.

In addition to facing the concept of failure early on, a successful entrepreneur knows that unforeseen challenges lie around every corner. For this reason, complacency is the enemy of motivation and preparedness. The same skills that helped your start-up will be needed throughout your career. In addition, your team will be following your lead as they navigate their own journeys. Your character is defined by how you respond in the face of adversity. In addition to getting more practice with each learning experience, you are also mentoring those around you who see you as a leader. In addition, by experiencing hard times yourself, you are more likely to be able to show empathy when a team member suffers a setback or if you are forced to deliver bad news as a whole.