Failure has been all the rage in professional coaching and business circles for nearly a decade (thanks to the book “Fail Fast Fail Often” by Ryan Babineaux and John Krumboltz). The idea is simple: we learn best by making mistakes (or take it from Will Smith). The more the better. From this standpoint, failure is a sign of growth.

Or so the wisdom goes. While most of us want to avoid failing as much as possible, if we’re really trying something hard, something new, something that pushes our boundaries, we’re going to fail. After all, the absence of failure doesn’t equal success – it might just be the absence of trying.