The Success Hidden in Failure: Why Your Biggest Mistakes Are Your Best Teachers

Ancient Wisdom on Why Ego Protection Kills Progress and Strategic Failure Accelerates Success

How I Became "WTF Chuck"

I still remember my first big mistake like it happened yesterday, even though it was back in 1987.

I wasn't even an electrical apprentice yet - I was working as a fire alarm technician, pulling wire and installing fire alarm devices for the life safety systems of commercial buildings.

I was working on a small three-story commercial building in Universal City, not too far from the Universal Studios Entertainment Park next to the Hollywood Freeway. Just another routine day on another routine job. Or so I thought.

I was working on one of the panels when I accidentally shorted two wires.

Immediately, like they were designed to, the entire system went into full alarm mode.

Speakers blaring at ear-splitting volume. Strobe lights cycling like a disco from hell. And everybody in the building looking around asking the same question: "WTF?!"

That's how I got my nickname - "WTF Chuck."

But it gets worse.

A couple minutes later, I hear the sirens. The fire trucks come rolling in - full lights, full sirens, full emergency response. Because, of course, when a fire alarm system goes off in a commercial building, the fire department automatically responds.

I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

Standing there watching these professional firefighters rush into the building, knowing that I was the reason they left their station, interrupted their day, and wasted their time because of my stupid mistake.

Boy, was I embarrassed.

To this day, when I hear certain fire alarm systems going off, I still feel a little "triggered," lol.

But here's the thing: That was back in '87, and since then I've made a ton of mistakes - too many to remember, mention, or bring up in therapy. But I never forget the lessons.

Those lessons allowed me to learn, grow, and become more successful. Each mistake was like a masterclass in what not to do, which taught me exactly what TO do.

And that's where I see so many people fail. Not from trying, but from not trying in the first place. They fail because they don't give themselves the opportunity to make mistakes, so they don't rack up much success and they struggle in life.

If you want to be successful, fail more.

The Ancient Art of Strategic Failure

Thomas Edison: The 10,000 Ways That Don't Work

​Thomas Edison is famous for inventing the light bulb, but what most people don't know is that he "failed" over 10,000 times before creating a working version.

When a reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times, Edison replied with one of history's greatest reframes:

Edison understood something that most people miss: failure isn't the opposite of success - it's the raw material of success.

Edison's approach wasn't random trial and error. He was systematic about his failures. He documented every attempt, analyzed what didn't work and why, and used each "failure" as feedback to inform the next experiment.

He wrote:

But what he really meant was that genius is the ability to persist through failure long enough to find what works.

Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park became known as the "invention factory" because he understood the mathematics of innovation: the more experiments you run, the more failures you generate, and the more failures you generate, the more breakthroughs you discover.

Most people approach failure like it's a verdict on their character. Edison approached failure like data that would inform his next decision. This mindset shift allowed him to patent over 1,000 inventions and revolutionize modern civilization.

The lesson? Your willingness to fail determines your capacity to succeed.

Michael Jordan: The Champion Who Embraced Missing

​Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. But here's what most people don't know: he also missed more shots than most players ever attempted.

Jordan once said:

Notice what Jordan is saying: his success isn't despite his failures - it's because of them.

Every missed shot taught Jordan something about trajectory, timing, or positioning. Every lost game taught him about strategy, teamwork, or mental toughness. Every missed game-winner taught him about pressure, preparation, and resilience.

But here's the crucial distinction: Jordan didn't just fail more - he failed better.

He analyzed every mistake, adjusted his approach, and applied what he learned to the next opportunity.

Most people avoid taking the game-winning shot because they're afraid of missing. Jordan took the shot because he'd already missed so many that he'd learned exactly how to make it.

This principle applies far beyond sports.

In any domain - business, relationships, creative work, personal development - the people who achieve mastery are usually the ones who've made the most mistakes and learned the most from them.

The Universal Principle: Failure as Accelerated Learning

Here's what Edison, Jordan, and all high achievers understand: mistakes are compressed learning experiences.

When everything goes according to plan, you don't learn much. You simply confirm what you already knew. But when things go wrong, you're forced to understand:

• What caused the failure?
• What assumptions were incorrect?
• What could be done differently?
• What new capabilities need to be developed?

This process of failure analysis and adjustment is how rapid improvement happens. People who avoid mistakes progress slowly because they're only learning from their successes, which provide less useful feedback.

Consider how this plays out:

• Entrepreneurs: The most successful ones usually have multiple failed businesses behind them. Each failure taught them something crucial about markets, customers, or execution that they applied to their eventual success.
• Artists: Master painters have created thousands of "bad" paintings. Master musicians have played millions of "wrong" notes. The volume of failure creates the refined skill.
• Athletes: Elite performers in any sport have lost more competitions than most people ever enter. Each loss provided specific feedback about what to improve.
• Leaders: Great leaders have made more leadership mistakes than most people ever have the opportunity to make. Those mistakes taught them about human nature, decision-making, and influence.

The pattern is universal: high performance requires high failure volume.

The Warrior Philosophy: Ego vs. Progress

What makes this "warrior wisdom" rather than simple motivation is its recognition that the biggest barrier to success isn't lack of talent - it's protection of ego.

Most people are more focused on looking competent than becoming competent. They avoid situations where they might fail because failure feels like a threat to their self-image.

Warriors understand that ego protection and skill development are inversely related. The more energy you spend protecting your image, the less energy you have available for actual improvement.

Consider the difference:

Ego-focused approach: Avoid challenges that might reveal weaknesses, stick to areas where you already look good, interpret failures as evidence of personal inadequacy.

Progress-focused approach: Seek challenges that reveal areas for improvement, deliberately practice in domains where you're currently weak, interpret failures as useful feedback about what to adjust.

The first approach feels safer in the short term but leads to stagnation. The second approach feels riskier but leads to accelerated growth.

Warriors choose growth over comfort because they understand that in the long term, competence is more valuable than the appearance of competence.

The Ripple Effects: Compound Benefits of Strategic Failure

When you embrace mistakes as learning opportunities, several powerful changes occur:

Individually, you develop what psychologists call "growth mindset" - the belief that abilities can be developed through effort and learning. This makes you more resilient, more willing to take risks, and ultimately more capable.

You also become less defensive and more curious. Instead of seeing criticism as an attack, you see it as useful information. Instead of avoiding difficult conversations, you seek them out because you know they accelerate your development.

Professionally, this mindset makes you incredibly valuable. While others are paralyzed by the fear of making mistakes, you're actively experimenting and improving. You become someone who solves problems rather than avoiding them.

Organizations desperately need people who can fail fast, learn quickly, and iterate toward solutions. When you demonstrate this capability, opportunities find you.

In relationships, you become someone others want to be around because you're not defensive or brittle. You can admit when you're wrong, apologize when necessary, and change when presented with better information.

Collectively, when more people embrace strategic failure, we create cultures of innovation rather than risk avoidance. We build organizations that adapt and improve rather than stagnate and decline.

Putting It On the Mat: The Warrior's Practice of Strategic Failure

The Failure Audit: Where Are You Playing It Too Safe?

Start by honestly examining where fear of failure is limiting your growth:

• What opportunities are you avoiding because you might not succeed?
• Where are you staying in your comfort zone instead of challenging yourself?
• What feedback are you avoiding because it might be uncomfortable?
• How much mental energy do you spend protecting your image versus improving your capabilities?

Most people discover they're playing much safer than they realized.

Three Levels of Strategic Failure Practice

Level 1: Failure Reframing: Begin changing your relationship with mistakes. When something goes wrong, instead of asking "Why did I fail?" ask "What did I learn?" Start documenting your failures and the lessons they provide. Treat each mistake as data rather than judgment.

Level 2: Deliberate Experimentation: Start actively seeking out situations where you might fail. Take on projects slightly beyond your current capabilities. Have conversations that might be awkward. Try skills you're not good at yet. The goal isn't to fail - it's to put yourself in positions where rapid learning can occur.

Level 3: Systematic Failure Analysis: Develop formal processes for extracting maximum learning from every failure. After each significant mistake, conduct what pilots call an "after-action review": What was supposed to happen? What actually happened? Why were they different? What can be done differently next time?

Daily Micro-Practices for Failure Embrace

• Morning experiment setting: Each morning, identify one small experiment you'll try that might not work
• Failure celebration: When you make a mistake, take a moment to appreciate the learning opportunity instead of beating yourself up
• Weekly failure review: Every Sunday, review the week's failures and extract the lessons they provided
• Adventure seeking: Monthly, try something completely new where you're guaranteed to be bad at first

When Your Ego Resists

Your ego will constantly try to convince you to avoid situations where you might look foolish. When this happens, remind yourself:

• Competence beats image in the long run
• Every expert was once a beginner who made lots of mistakes
• People respect growth more than perfection
• Your current limitations are temporary if you're willing to fail your way past them

The 30-Day Strategic Failure Challenge

Here's your practice for the next month:

1. Days 1-7: Complete your failure audit and identify three areas where you're playing too safe
2. Days 8-14: Take one small risk daily in an area where you might fail but could learn
3. Days 15-21: Start a project slightly beyond your current skill level and document what you learn from the inevitable mistakes
4. Days 22-28: Ask for honest feedback from someone whose opinion you respect but might be hard to hear
5. Days 29-30: Reflect on how your relationship with failure has changed and what you've learned

Remember: The goal isn't to fail for the sake of failing. It's to stop letting the fear of failure prevent you from pursuing what you really want.

Every master was once a disaster. Every expert was once a beginner. Every success story is built on a foundation of instructive failures.

The people who achieve the most are usually the ones who've failed the most - and learned the most from those failures.

So embrace your inner "WTF Chuck." Short some wires. Set off some alarms. Learn from the embarrassment.

Your future success is hiding in your current willingness to fail.

The question isn't whether you'll make mistakes - you will. The question is whether you'll let those mistakes teach you or just discourage you.

Choose learning. Choose growth. Choose strategic failure.

Your biggest breakthroughs are waiting on the other side of your next mistake.

P.S. Waiting doesn’t build leaders. Action does.

Hit The Leader’s Dojo today and get tools, training, and community to sharpen your edge.