Failing at a task is typically looked at as a bad thing, but failing is human and failing is something we all have experienced. I believe it is how I react to failure that will determine my future success. To get better at something, I know I must be persistent and not to be afraid to try to do something that is harder than what I have done before. In order to improve, I know I must take on more difficult challenges and progressively harder tasks. Failing for me is not always bad and failing is motivation for me to achieve something. For that matter, failure is only failure if you decide to quit and never proceed past that point.
One of my earliest recollections of failure that I experienced was trying to ride a bike. At the time I was about five or six years old. I remember watching my brother ride his bike and I wanted to be just like him, so I was going to try my hardest to ride my bike. My dad had taken off the training wheels and I started out riding on the grass. I had fallen dozens of times before I got the hold of it. Once I was able to ride it a good twenty or thirty feet, dad and I took my bike to the street. I was scared to ride the bike on the street. If I failed at riding my bike here I knew I could really get hurt. Dad guided me for a few steps and then let me go. I immediately crashed to the pavement. It hurt a lot and I did not want to try it again, but as I sat on the curb crying, I thought of my brother and how I wanted to be like him and ride my bike. I no longer was afraid of getting hurt or afraid of failing. I was not going to let this temporary failure keep me from riding bikes with my brother. I got up, got onto my bike and each time I started pedaling, I went farther and farther, until finally I was circling the cul-de-sac with a smile and a jolt of confidence and pride in what I had accomplished. After this event, I do not recall ever considering myself a failure at anything.
