When was the last time you truly…failed?
It’s a question that most people would rather avoid. We’re often taught to measure our success by how smoothly we can navigate life without stumbling. Society encourages us to focus on progress, on taking steps forward.
But what if I told you that failure — yes, failure — is actually the very thing that holds the key to your growth and future success?
If you believe that your progress is only determined by the length of time between your mistakes, then you’re missing the most important lesson of all: failure isn’t something to fear. It’s something to embrace.
In fact, I would argue that missteps, mistakes, and even outright failure are the true building blocks of success. You can’t grow without them. Failure is the admission price to the success you want to one day experience.
But here’s the catch — it’s not failure alone that guarantees growth.
It’s our awareness of that failure and our ability to extract lessons from it. Growth comes from how you respond to failure. How you reflect, learn, and apply those lessons to the future. You see, it’s not about how often you fall. It’s about how quickly you rise, and how much wiser you become in the process.
This philosophy isn’t new. In fact, it’s been embraced for centuries by cultures around the world, especially in ancient Japan. There’s a practice that perfectly embodies this idea, and I’m about to tell you why it’s just what you need in your life.
The Ancient Japanese Tradition That Can Change Your Life
One of the most powerful images many martial artists have in their mind when visualizing harsh training is that of a hardened Japanese warrior standing beneath a freezing waterfall, allowing the icy torrents to pour over his body. This isn’t some ancient ritual for the sake of pain; it’s a practice known as misogi or takigyo, and it’s all about purification, endurance, and personal growth.
The purpose is simple yet profound: it’s about pushing beyond your limits. It’s about embracing hardship — physical, mental, and emotional — in order to purify yourself and prepare for the challenges ahead.
In the frigid water, under extreme conditions, a warrior is forced to face his fears and discomfort head-on, because that’s the only way to emerge stronger, more resilient, and ready for whatever life throws his way.
In fact, Morihei Ueshiba (the founder of aikido) is even said to have regularly traveled to Kumano Nachi Falls for meditation in this style in his search of self-perfection and refinement of the art.
Mind you, you don’t have to stand under a freezing waterfall to benefit from this philosophy.
The core principles — pushing beyond limits, facing discomfort, and learning from adversity — can be applied to your everyday life and martial arts training.
The Modern Era
We live in a world where distractions are everywhere. From constant information overload to the overwhelming ease of indulging in whatever feels good in the moment, we’ve become experts in avoiding discomfort.
But that avoidance comes at a price: we miss out on the personal growth that comes from challenging ourselves.
In today’s world, your version of the Japanese practice might look different. Maybe it means running your first ultra marathon, or stepping away from a job that no longer fulfills you and finally committing to your own business. For you, it might even mean setting a goal to travel overseas and train in martial arts for months, totally immersing yourself in the discipline.
The point is this: challenge yourself. Don’t take the easy route. Embrace difficulty. Seek out experiences that will push you beyond what you thought was possible.
In fact, I’m going to challenge you right now. Are you ready?
Your Path to Transformation
Here’s the formula:
Pick a goal. For instance, let’s say you want to win a martial arts tournament.
Make it 10x harder. Now, instead of just winning, aim for something even bigger — like becoming the NASKA World Champion.
Take action immediately. Stop reading this article, and go find the next competition. Commit to it. Start training. Right now.
This isn’t about just achieving something. It’s about the transformation that happens in the pursuit of your goal. The process of pushing yourself, of embracing the struggle, of learning from every setback — that’s where the real magic happens. It’s not about winning the tournament. It’s about becoming a different person in the process.
Much like how the black belt you're wearing doesn't matter — it's about who you became in order to wear it.
Your transformation isn’t just about achieving a title or a trophy. It’s about becoming someone who never quits — someone who embraces failure as part of the growth journey. It’s about committing to the work, trusting the process, and knowing that at the end of it, you’ll be stronger than you ever thought possible.
Pick your goal, make it bigger, and take action today. If you do, you’ll find that failure doesn’t define you — it refines you. And when you look back at all the obstacles you’ve overcome, you’ll realize that each one was an essential step toward becoming the person you were always meant to be.
It’s time to grow.