I think that it is safe to say that nobody likes to fail. That is not to say that some people don’t attempt to sabotage efforts, of their own or of others, but because that was the intention, the actual failure of the effort would be success of the sabotage. The saboteur would have failed and would not be happy if his or her actions did not prevent success.

Failure means that actions taken didn’t yield results desired. It necessarily means that assumptions about reality that instigated the action didn’t match reality at the time. That may be caused by a faulty understanding of how the world works, but it may just be that unforeseen events intervened to change the reality before the action bore its fruit.

In all cases, failure is an opportunity to learn, to get a more accurate picture of reality. The lesson might require a fundamental change of assumptions, but it could also be the cue to take other coordinated actions to mitigate risks inherent in the unknown future. Sometimes it could mean simply trying different things and seeing what works.

Failure is just as important to progress as is success. Many successful people go so far as to say that they failed their way to success. They didn’t give up. They learned, and each failure taught them a little bit more. More failure meant more experience and quicker progress. The objective is not to fail, but rather to try more. Every success involves a significant element of luck, but in order to take advantage of lucky breaks, a person needs to have learned the appropriate lessons beforehand.

While you may not feel like it at the time, there is a certain dignity in failure. It is proof that you tried. As long as you learn from your mistakes and make adjustments in the future, the failure is not wasted. You and other people are likely to have been made better off in some way by the effort. That is the key to progress in a market society.

The market is a testing ground for ideas. We think of markets as places where people buy and sell goods and services, but in this sense, the market envelops all human interactions, whether or not they involve money. We communicate something every time we are with others, even if we don’t say a word. That communication is an opportunity to learn about ourselves, about others, and about how society operates.

People are able to learn from the mistakes of others. They also are able to emulate the successes of others, and an efficient way to improve is to do the things that successful people do, to develop the habits, the attitudes, and the learning spirit. Everyone has his or her own idea of what success looks like, but for every vision of success, there are people who have already achieved, those who have accomplished, those who have developed a higher level of competence at whatever one might hold in high regard.

Individuals have an inherent dignity, which is reflected in the right to choose. That possibility of choosing, however, must include the possibility of failure. A free society is one where choosing and failing is not only tolerated, but also encouraged, even required. If people are to prosper, they must choose appropriate actions, and failure is the teacher, but that means also that results, including prosperity, will be unequal. That inequality of results is the incentive for people to learn to make better choices in the future, something that has a very positive effect, not only on the individual, but also for the prosperity of society.

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