A friend of mine told me a story about a time when a wise friend said, “Let’s call this one training.” The project they had invested significant time and resources on was lost before they even got to use it. Pretty discouraging. Pretty tempting to hang it up and go do something else.

But what if we considered that first attempt training? What if the reality of loss or failure can be turned into an opportunity–an investment in the future. You learned all kinds of things making the first one that will improve both the process and the product of the second one.

Failure can be a bitter taskmaster–or a trusted coach. You decide.