{"id":72228,"date":"2019-10-28T19:05:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T03:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=72228"},"modified":"2019-10-30T19:08:14","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T03:08:14","slug":"failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>\n<p>Failure is often a sharp, bitter, pill&#8230; And it can feel so personal, and FINAL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, is failure really a bad thing? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Maybe you are confusing failure with defeat? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Failure<\/strong> is defined as, <em>&#8220;a lack of success.&#8221; <\/em><\/li><li><strong>Defeat<\/strong> is defined as, <em>&#8220;An unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest.&#8221; <\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can think of it this way: <strong>failure<\/strong> is learning from experience on the way to success, while <strong>defeat<\/strong> is giving up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if you think about it, failure is very different than defeat. I mean, TOTALLY different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Any journey towards a challenging goal is going to be littered with failure,  <em>(aka, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/8-reasons-failing-actually-succeeding\/\">learning<\/a>&#8220;)<\/em> but <strong>you haven&#8217;t been defeated until you choose to give up!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><em>&#8220;I have not failed. I&#8217;ve just found 10,000 ways that don&#8217;t work.&#8221;<\/em> &#8211; Thomas Edison<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That inspiring quote comes from the man who literally invented the lightbulb; the very symbol of a good idea. Oh, and Edison was once called, <em>&#8220;too stupid to learn anything&#8221;<\/em> by one of his teachers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thomas Edison failed countless times, but was not defeated!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3>A Metaphor About Failure:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Did you ever watch someone climb the side of a mountain? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rock climbers work slowly and deliberately. They like to grab onto rocks and give them a test before they put all their weight them. Some rocks will work, while others might just crumble, and go tumbling down the mountain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rock climbers change course, and learn from their mistakes to find a better route to the summit, but the good ones don&#8217;t quit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, <strong>success is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/shatter-barriers-and-create-breakthrough-opportunities\/\">not a one mile race<\/a> on a track; it&#8217;s much more like climbing a mountain<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3>Failure Is Learning:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, remember that <strong>failure is not at all the same as defeat<\/strong>. Failure happens to everyone, and the people who have failed the most we call names&#8230; names like: expert, teacher, or even master.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><em>&#8216;ll be giving it my best-est,<br>And nothing&#8217;s going to stop me but divine intervention.<br>I reckon it&#8217;s again my turn,<br>To <strong>win some or learn some<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/em> <br>&#8211; I&#8217;m Yours &#8211; Jason Mraz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>So, did you <\/em><strong><em>fail<\/em><\/strong><em> at something?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think you mean <strong>you learned<\/strong> something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3>You&#8217;re Going to Fail a Lot <em>(That&#8217;s OK!) <\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s add &#8220;failure&#8221; to the short list of unavoidable things in life. <em>(like <a href=\"https:\/\/prettysweet.com\/death-taxes-quote\/\">death and taxes<\/a>!)<\/em> But, that&#8217;s OK! In fact, you could even say that failure is a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><em>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.&#8221;<\/em> &#8211; Thomas Edison<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can&#8217;t have the desire to succeed and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/overcome-fear-of-failure\/\">fear of failure<\/a> at the same time; you have to pick one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you choose to succeed, you eventually will<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s like that rock climbing metaphor, though. Success is not a straight path, so learn from your failures, change your course, but keep climbing!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3>A Final <em>(Awesome)<\/em> Quote About Failure:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><em>&#8220;The strongest steel is forged by the fires of hell. It is pounded and struck repeatedly before it\u2019s plunged back into the molten fire. The fire gives it power and flexibility, and the blows give it strength. Those two things make the metal pliable and able to withstand every battle it\u2019s called upon to fight.&#8221;<\/em> &#8211; Sherrilyn Kenyon &#8211; Devil May Cry <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Can you see what I&#8217;m getting at here?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If not, I suggest you read more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/25-of-the-most-inspiring-quotes-ever-spoken\/\">inspiring quotes here<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have less than a thousand failures on your journey to success, consider yourself fortunate! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Author Missy Woodruff enjoys taking literal and metaphorical journeys with her family, and writes about them on her blog at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/prettysweet.com\/\"><em>PrettySweet.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo credit @speckfechta via Unsplash.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Failure is often a sharp, bitter, pill&#8230; And it can feel so personal, and FINAL. But, is failure really a bad thing? Maybe you are confusing failure with defeat? Consider this: Failure is defined as, &#8220;a lack of success.&#8221; Defeat &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16874,"featured_media":72239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[205,9,21,112],"tags":[174,82,175,94,1376,4631],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Failure is often a sharp, bitter, pill... And it can feel so personal, and FINAL. But, is failure really a bad thing?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Failure is often a sharp, bitter, pill... And it can feel so personal, and FINAL. But, is failure really a bad thing?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-29T03:05:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-31T03:08:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/woman_rock_climbing.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mwoodruf99\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/woman_rock_climbing.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/woman_rock_climbing.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":525},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/\",\"name\":\"Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-29T03:05:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-31T03:08:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b5fb21fe0af0af145d36029c3e8e5b99\"},\"description\":\"Failure is often a sharp, bitter, pill... And it can feel so personal, and FINAL. But, is failure really a bad thing?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b5fb21fe0af0af145d36029c3e8e5b99\",\"name\":\"mwoodruf99\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/701a34171ea43ffeebf2826fcf9f71b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/701a34171ea43ffeebf2826fcf9f71b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mwoodruf99\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/mwoodruf99\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)","description":"Failure is often a sharp, bitter, pill... And it can feel so personal, and FINAL. But, is failure really a bad thing?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)","og_description":"Failure is often a sharp, bitter, pill... And it can feel so personal, and FINAL. But, is failure really a bad thing?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/","og_site_name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain","article_published_time":"2019-10-29T03:05:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-31T03:08:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":525,"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/woman_rock_climbing.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@pickthebrain","twitter_site":"@pickthebrain","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mwoodruf99","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/","name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/woman_rock_climbing.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/woman_rock_climbing.jpg","width":768,"height":525},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/","name":"Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-10-29T03:05:34+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-31T03:08:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b5fb21fe0af0af145d36029c3e8e5b99"},"description":"Failure is often a sharp, bitter, pill... And it can feel so personal, and FINAL. But, is failure really a bad thing?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/failure-vs-defeat-are-you-confusing-the-two\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Failure vs. Defeat (Are You Confusing the Two?)"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b5fb21fe0af0af145d36029c3e8e5b99","name":"mwoodruf99","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/701a34171ea43ffeebf2826fcf9f71b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/701a34171ea43ffeebf2826fcf9f71b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mwoodruf99"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/mwoodruf99\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16874"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}