Failure sets you up for success. That is why you should be happy when you fail.

I look at failure as earning a degree in the university of life. It is a current reality. You will mistakes. You will fail. You will lose. That is the absolute truism in life. So what will you do about it? Hide in your room and never show yourself to the world?

To fail is a scary thought. No one wants to fail. If you watch sports, those athletes spend months preparing for competition. In business, entrepreneurs spend resources building up their startups. They invest money, sacrifice time with their family and compromise their sanity with one single objective: to win, succeed.

But there can only be one winner. Everyone else will fail. But what do they do? Some rest for awhile; lick their wounds, regroup then go back to the grind. The rest quit.

In the next competition, it will be the same vicious cycle. One wins the others lose. But for those who came back they get one step closer to meeting their goal.

Here are top 10 reasons why you should be happy when you fail:

1. You Will Cherish Every Little Victory.

There will always be more losers than winners. In the Rio 2016 Olympics, there were more than 60 losers every time Michael Phelps won his Gold medal.

In business, only one bidder will win the contract. Every other business will go back to the office a loser.

It hurts right? Whenever you hear the word “loser,” it’s like the entire world is laughing at you.

But that is the way it is. There will always be one winner. It’s a harsh reality that you should understand and acknowledge as the truth. Because if you don’t, you will never cherish every victory that comes your way even if these are small.

When you lose, you realize how hard it is to win. As the losses keep mounting, you’re starting to think if winning is ever possible. Look at our own Olympian Hidilyn Diaz.

I saw her fail miserably in the 2012 London Olympics. She came in ranked 8th in the world in Weightlifting. She bombed out, and my lasting image was Hidilyn leaving London in tears.

By the time she came back in Rio, Hidilyn was already 4th in the world! She was one step away from the top 3! I knew she was our closest chance for a medal. So I stayed up late to watch her compete.

And Hidilyn did not disappoint when she took the Silver! She left London in tears and left Rio in tears; this time tears of happiness!

The loss in London did not de-motivate her. It strengthened her resolve to keep trying. So she kept winning and slowly climbed the world rankings.

I guarantee Hidilyn Diaz will win the Gold medal in the Japan 2020 Olympics!

Related: 7 Business Failure Stories that Turned into Success Stories

2. It Confirms You Are On The Right Track.

“I did not fail 1,000 times; the light bulb was an invention that took 1,000 steps.”

How many times did Thomas Edison fail at inventing the light bulb? Accounts had his failure rate between 1,000 and 111,009; whatever it was, it did not matter to Thomas because he knew he was getting closer.

And we have him to thank for the light that graciously comes up in our homes whenever the sun has gone down.

How many times should you fail before you finally succeed? As many as it takes!

  • 242 – The number of banks that rejected Howard Schultz for his coffee shop venture “Starbucks.”
  • 400 – The number of companies Sir Richard Branson launched and failed before he founded Virgin.
  • 1,009 – The number of times Col. Sanders’ recipe for fried chicken was rejected.
  • 1,500 – The number of producers who rejected Sylvester Stallone’s script “Rocky.”
  • 5,126 – The number of times James Dyson had failed before he invented the vacuum cleaner.

Remember this Japanese proverb, “Nana Korobi Ya Oki” which translated means “Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight”!

3. It Becomes An Opportunity To Become Better

I can be very hard on myself when I lose because I put in everything that I have when I am committed to a venture or activity.

As a competitive powerlifter, if I didn’t win the Gold, it only means I’ve lost. This was captured in a photograph when I ended up in 2nd place.

A friend asked me why I looked like someone just died when I won the Silver. I said to him, “I didn’t win the Silver. I lost the Gold.”

One time while I was streaming videos, I came across a kickboxing sparring session headed by a world champion kickboxer. He was coaching a neophyte who was about to enter his first sparring session.

The neophyte was brutally knocked out.

At the locker room, the neophyte was crying because he had lost. The coach told him,

“Remember this: if you’re not winning, you’re learning. Anyone who has the courage to pursue his dreams regardless of the odds will always be a winner.” It was an epiphany that changed my perspective on failure.

Understand that failure is not an enemy you should be afraid of. You should embrace failure as if it was your best friend because it is. Your best friend will always tell what’s right or wrong.

Failure will show you where you went wrong so you can become better!

4. It Means You’ve Taken Another Step Forward.

Proponents of Behavioral Leadership say that when you are confronted by a dangerous or precarious situation, fear will set in. That is the normal human reaction. However, in the end, the choice will be yours to make:

Fight, Flight or Freeze?

Behavioral Leadership proponents will advise you not just to fight but to run full speed toward danger. Facing a dangerous situation head on is the most effective way to break through your limitations because the one thing that is holding you back is your fear of failure.

If you win, great. If you lose, guess what? You’ve still won because you have conquered your fear of failure.

What about those who froze or chose to fly away? Where are they now? Either they are stuck in the same place or hiding somewhere away from conflict. They are the ones who usually make a lot of noise when you fail:

“See? I told you so! You shouldn’t have gone through with it. Now you’ve lost.”

No, it is they who have lost. They will never move forward because they are afraid of taking the next step. They are reduced to nothing more than opinion-makers, coach quarterbacks or keyboard warriors.

One year later, they are still hiding behind their limitations while you are so far ahead they can never hope to catch you.

5. You’re Special!

I’ll share with you a secret which will change your life. I don’t know if you’ve heard about it but understanding its meaning has changed many lives including mine. Are you ready for it? Here is the secret:

Everybody Fails.

No one in this world has failed in his or her lifetime. Those new billionaires in the Philippines who came out in the recent issue of Forbes magazine had failed countless of times before they found success.

Research the life of any iconic business leader or political figure; every single one of them has failed at least once in their life.

The risk of failure is with you the second you wake up from sleep. It lurks at every corner; in every decision, you make no matter how great or small. When you make a decision, the result will only end in one of two outcomes; success or failure.

But not many will make that decision because the idea of failure is paralyzing. Thus if you fail, you are special because unlike everyone else you took the chance.

There is no shame in failure, but there is a shame; great shame, for not trying.

Related: 10 Toxic Types of People You Should Keep Out of Your Life

6. You’re Experiencing Life!

The road to success is not a straight line. It travels along a winding road with steep climbs and sharp drops.

The road is riddled with potholes; there are sections where you will tread through the mud. You will trek through unforgiving terrain; tree roots hardened by time and rocks long unearthed by erosion are everywhere.

The weather is not always sunny. It is Volatile, Unpredictable, Chaotic and Ambiguous. If you believe that charting your road to success with high tech equipment and the most expensive minds money can buy will guarantee you success, you are wrong.

No matter how you think things through the only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain. No crystal ball exists that can predict your future.

No software program exists to eliminate all possible mistakes. If there is such software, in a few weeks, it will be rendered obsolete by a newer model. What then will you do?

We are human beings; we are flawed creatures capable of making mistakes and falling into failure. But it is in our imperfections that we are the most beautiful and perfect creatures on earth!

Our ability to fail is the reason why machines and computers can never replace us. We fail because our emotions betray better judgment, yet our emotions allow us to anticipate and foreshadow problems before it happens. We have intuition; machines don’t.

Life is all about experiencing its beauty and ugliness. We are imperfect creatures in an imperfect world. Embrace your flaws and live your fears!

7. You Become Tougher.

April 7, 2014, was a date I could not forget. It was just one day before the birthday of my son. We were planning a nice day out for him as summer vacation had just started.

But that morning I received an e-mail from a client. It said the company decided to pre-terminate our contract and re-align its limited resources toward a new business direction.

It was devastating because of my company, Benchmark Global, was already gaining traction. 2 years earlier my previous company also lost its flagship client which led to its eventual demise.

I could not let this happen again.

I was marketing and networking to find clients 8 hours every day. I would start from 8 am to 12 pm then again from 8 pm to 12 am. In between, I would schedule meetings with local companies, existing contacts and present the company at business forums, trade shows, and conventions.

In one stretch, I was able to schedule 17 meetings within ten days. And I was rejected by everyone.

My failure rate had gotten so high, and it was off the charts. I could not bear to face my wife and son anymore. I felt like a disgrace and that I had let them down.

But I had no choice. I had to keep trying.  I told myself to work harder but smarter. Every time I heard those voices come at night reminding me how much I had failed, I would rise from the bed and work.

Eventually, we started getting more clients onboard. And as we succeeded, clients renewed their contracts and gave us referrals.

The lesson I learned was this:

When you do the things you don’t feel like doing is when you will eventually find success.

8. You Develop A Greater Appreciation For What You Have.

From 2009 to 2012, I co-founded a company which was successful. I was able to provide a comfortable life for my family and buy my first car. Then with one phone call, I lost it all.

Life changed drastically for us. I had to discontinue my Powerlifting career. I was only eating once a day and exercising 1-2 times a week. We canceled the annual family vacation. We were eating only 1 type of viand per week and relied on rice to keep us full. Jollibee became a treat. We canceled cable TV.

We would tell our son these were sacrifices we had to make to help us get back on our feet.

As the padre de familia, it was hard for me. I would open Facebook and see friends post pictures of their trips abroad, the food they ate at the newest steak house or the most painful of them all, a Christmas tree filled with gifts.

I was angry, frustrated and envious because that was our life before. But a trip to the grocery on Christmas Even changed all that.

When I bought a few kids 150 Pesos worth of goodies, they were not only happy.

They shared with one another.

Money, the trappings of success, vacations these are great but otherwise shallow definitions of what life is all about. You should not let them define who you are and what you want out of life.

Even when business improved and our finances got better, we never forget where we had come from. Occasionally, I would treat them to a fancy restaurant, but we still enjoy Jollibee once in a while.

The lesson I learned was never to take things for granted. Appreciate what you have but never assume for one moment that your life’s success is set in stone. Stay hungry; do not be complacent and believe in your hype.

I did, and I paid a big price for it.

9. Understand What Others Go Through.

I love writing for tycoon. It’s a great medium to share my experiences and give advice both of which I hope can help its readers. I told Roel Manarang who owns tycoon that writing for his website is a great release for me. If I had a webcam on me while writing, you would see a perpetual smile on my face.

I especially love it when readers reach out to me and ask for advice. I wish I were able to respond faster, but most of the messages are coming in via Facebook.

I’ve corresponded with readers who share their difficulties in running their businesses. They send me e-mails, and I try my best to give valuable and usable advice.

Writing for tycoon gave me the opportunity to validate one of my long-held beliefs:

No one can teach you about success, but you will always learn from someone else’s failures.

The knowledge, tips and advice I give the readers of tycoon were what I learned through countless failures over the course of my life.

These tips may work for you or they may not. The most important thing is to try and never give up!

10. You Will Realize A Greater Purpose Than Finding Success.

One of the most heartwarming videos I’ve seen was by the Tim Tebow Foundation for its charity work in the Philippines.

People remember Tebow as an American Quarterback in the professional football league. Tebow found instant fame because for someone who was technically flawed as a Quarterback. He always found a way to bring his team back from the brink of defeat.

Despite bringing the Denver Broncos one game away from the Superbowl, he was unceremoniously cut the year after. No team wanted Tebow because coaches said he had poor throwing mechanics.

But Tebow’s life was filled with uncertainty the day he was born. His mother was a missionary in the Philippines. The doctors advised her to terminate the pregnancy because it may kill her.

The mother said no and gave birth to Tim Tebow.

This is why the Philippines holds a special place in Tim Tebow’s heart. With his professional playing career in limbo, Tebow continues his mission to help underprivileged children and people in the Philippines a chance at a better life. His Tebow Cure Hospital has funded many medical missions in the Philippines.

His success in the NFL may have been cut short, but Tim Tebow had continued to walk down the path God set before him the day he was born.

Tim Tebow does not need Football.

The world needs Tim Tebow.

Related: 5 Irrefutable Reasons Why You Should Embrace Failure

Embracing Failure

I’ve met people in my life who looked like they had it all; looks, intelligence, family support and the best education money can buy.

But they squandered it all because they were afraid of failure. What happened to them?

Some remain unemployed. Some allowed themselves to be used and abused by others to find a career. The majority has become delusional; they say their position in life is a matter of choice.

Let me leave you with a quote from one of my sources of motivation which also happens to be a great comedian, Jim Carrey:

“So many of us chose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never dare to ask the universe for it.

I’m saying: I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it.

My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that was possible for him. So he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant, and when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job, and our family had to do whatever we could to survive.

I learned many great lessons from my father. Not the least of which was that you could fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”