Sara Blakely

In a devotion he wrote for The Southeast Outlook, Jacob Glassner tells how Sara Blakely learned to appreciate failure. Blakely, the founder and CEO of Spanx, a billion-dollar apparel company, often shares the story that led to her success.

When Sara was growing up, her father would often ask her at the dinner table—“What have you failed at this week?” He would be disappointed if she didn’t have something to share.

Blakely says that this helped her define failure in a different way than many people understand the term. For her, failure was not so much about the outcome of her efforts—failure was not trying. Having no fear of failure led Blakely to found Spanx at the age of 27.

Perhaps the secret to success is overcoming the fear of failure. If we aren’t afraid to try new and difficult things, we can learn from our mistakes, build on our experiences and ultimately succeed in the end.

“For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”—Proverbs 24:16.