failure
by rantywoman
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/06/text-of-j-k-rowling-speech/
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.
thebitterbabe 
Yes, I think failure is integral to success or happiness. Anything worth achieving or worthwhile is usually, by definition, not easy. To fail means you’ve tried. It means you’re alive in the world and giving it your best shot – which, since we’re all going to be dead for eternity – is really, in some respects, the best use of time. I don’t know how much I would want to have everything perfect all the time. Each try is a learning curve where the next go will be better – and if you get up again it also instills confidence (albeit, perhaps battered) and courage and tenacity. And anything worth the effort will have the rewards – of knowing you stood through it, worked hard etc. Of course, I think it needs to be clarified that failure in this context (also by which JK Rowling means) is the natural opposite of trying. It’s not failure borne of stupidity or greed or racism etc.
There was an interesting TED talk that touched on this – the speaker said she refers to the TED conference as the Failure Conference – because everyone there would have failed so many times before they achieved whatever it was that made them worthy of speaking at TED. It’s worth watching if you haven’t seen it:
and the original talk:
(If you haven’t seen them – watch the second one first).
Btw – Yogagurl – in relation to your comment on the 1%? The people at TED are the ones that drive innovation. And none of them are in the 1%.
Thanks for the links!
No problem 🙂