Why We Need To Embrace Failure, According To A Happiness Expert 

Whether in our personal or professional lives, failing is an inevitable (and potentially dreaded) part of everyone's journey. But one happiness expert, Neil Pasricha, wants us to change the way we think about our failures.

Neil Pasricha's bestselling book, The Happiness Equation, has sold over a million copies, and he's also one of the most-watched TED speakers of all time. So when he says, "Every single goal, achievement, or desire that anybody has, has a series of pain and punishments along the way," we believe him.

But the key, Pasricha says, is staying the course.

"The little failures we go through are often in service of a larger, more satisfying end goal. If you can just see that end goal, even if it's invisible, you'll see it as a step. And that builds your resilience and your confidence to keep moving. See it as a step."

And this isn't just talk; a study recently found early failures in your career actually correlate with long-term success, highlighting the importance of diligence, resilience, and confidence.

With a little effort, we can all learn to be more resilient in our lives, whether it be through putting yourself out there or trying something new. "Always be doing something new," Pasricha says, "because your resilience will grow while you're learning something for the first time [...] You have to get out of your comfort zone to increase your mental exposure." 

Plus, failures often have lessons within them, which we can learn from to help us in the future. Maybe your usual way of doing things is no longer serving you, or a "failed" relationship made you realize what needed to change. We can't learn those lessons if we allow the failure to shut us down, so don't let it!