You’re going to suck. You’re going to screw up. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to fail. And you should be thankful for it.

You’re familiar with this phrase: If you’re not failing, you’re not trying anything new. Like all the others, this has become a cliché because it’s true. If you’re doing something 100% right every time, it’s because you’ve done it before. You’re used to the process, and know what to do.

But we’re humans. We don’t know much – at least not until we try and experiment with a few things. You’re going to make a ton of mistakes. And chances are you’ll feel really terrible about a handful of them. It’s oh. Kay.

Making a mistake does not make you a bad person. Failing at something does mean you’re terrible at what you do, or that everyone’s going to hate you for the rest of forever. It means you’re trying something. The only caveat is that you have to actually learn from your screw ups. Use your newfound knowledge to make the next attempt better. Think of it like golf.

No matter how much a player analyzes the green, he can’t know exactly how to putt. So he takes his best guess, swings, and even though he misses, he’s now a little closer to the hole.

Sometimes a player will need several attempts to get the ball in the hole. That doesn’t make him a bad golfer. It means that he has to figure out the best option before achieving his goal of putting the ball into the hole.

As the years go on, you’re going to miss the hole more times than you can count. You’re rarely going to achieve your goals or complete tasks for the first time without messing up along the way. That’s perfectly okay! It’s even good!

Every time you miss the hole, you learn a little bit more about how to sink that putt. You’ll be thankful for the learning experience next time you get up to that green (or the next time a similar situation rolls around). Failing doesn’t mean you’re bad, it means you’re trying. And if you’re not trying, you couldn’t possibly be growing.