Big or small failure hurts. Every once in a while, just when you feel everything is going your way, failure hits you like a bulldozer and takes you down. It is emotional. Sometimes devastating. You feel stupid. Regretful. You get down on yourself. Your ego takes a hit. And you work to hide your failure from others out of embarrassment.

Winners embrace the gift of failure. One of the key traits of highly successful people is their ability to acknowledge and respond to failure in a way that allows them to learn, grow, and remain on track. They use each loss, each mistake as an opportunity for personal development. For them failures not only teach lessons but also open doors that lead to new opportunities.