Failures are our teachers

I have often said that I've learned far more from my mistakes and failures than ever I've learned from any achievements or successes in life. It's not a fun way to learn—but somehow it seems more effective. Do you find that true in your life, too?

That is why it's good to ask yourself—either when you're in the midst of a situation that is going south and is about to fail or later when you pick up the pieces—what can I learn from this? What is this experience trying to teach me? So many lessons can be embedded within our failures. So don't be discouraged by your mistakes and failures.

As our last president, Barack Obama, once said, "The real test is not whether you avoid failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."

Yup, it's called lifelong learning. The school of hard knocks. Whatever you want to call it, there's just always more to learn. Let's open ourselves up to those lessons.