We Learn From Failure, Not From Success – Bram Stoker

Have you ever heard the quote, “We learn from failure, not from success,” by Bram Stoker? I want you to read this quote a few times and think about its meaning for a second.

You may have heard that taking massive action is what gets results for people, but you still have trouble doing what must be done to progress towards your goals.

I'm willing to bet that if you have this problem, it is because you are worried about failing. This, of course, is understandable, especially when it comes to things like entrepreneurship.

You may be worried about what people will think or say about you if you fail, what kind of financial situation that would put you in, whether or not your self confidence would take a big hit, etc.

But, guess what, no one ever succeeds at everything on the first try. Failure is apart of life, as well as success. There is no success without failure.

You've probably seen this picture before that really illustrates what success is like:

It really illustrates it perfectly. You may be thinking that success is a straight line that is easy and perfect as soon as you get all the knowledge you need to take action.

You may think that if you just spend years preparing or learning about something before trying it, that you will succeed perfectly on the very first try. But, that isn't how it works.

Trust me, I know first hand what it is like to think success will come easier for me than it did for others. I learned the hard way, just like countless other entrepreneurs that this isn't the case.

Success Is Like A Checklist

You have to go through this checklist through process of elimination to figure out what will work the best for you.

This is just like how Thomas Edison tried 10,000 different ways to make a lightbulb and failed every time until he finally got it right.

The longer you wait to start crossing off things that don't work, the longer it will take to see your goals and dreams be fulfilled. But, don't get me wrong, education is extremely important to this.

By educating yourself on a daily basis, whether you are reading related books, listening to audio lessons, watching how-to videos, etc., you will be able to eliminate certain things without trying them.

If you are doing something that has never been done before, like Thomas Edison did, you won't find too much education on what works or what doesn't.

But, for most goals, you will reach them faster by not fearing failure and instead welcoming it as a learning experience that gets you closer to your desired end result.

“We Learn From Failure, Not From Success”

This quote by Bram Stoker really just means we need to not focus on eliminating failure from our lives (which is impossible), but focus on looking at it differently as a learning experience or just another bit of knowledge needed to reach success.

To get the best results and reach your goals, my best work has come from gaining a little knowledge everyday on the subjects I'm looking to succeed in and taking action on every theory or concept that could potentially work.

Fearing failure is not an option if you want to succeed my friend. You need to learn from your and others' failures to correct course along the way.

Stop seeing failure as a negative outcome, and start trying to see it as a positive piece of education you have gained, allowing you to eliminate another option on your checklist, like Edison did as he progressed towards changing the world.

What does the quote, “We learn from failure, not from success” mean to you?