While it may not be comfortable, failing is a vital component to navigating life. It brings with it humility, respect, and eventually a sense of accomplishment. Without it, we wouldn’t have the same appreciation for our struggles or our wins.

Everybody experiences failure. But a vast majority of people give up at the first sign of resistance. More people will give up after failing a few times over. Further down the line, some people can only tolerate dozens of failures before giving up. But a select few people—the ones who stick it out—are able to call themselves the ones who made it through. They are among the persistent. That’s why success isn’t easy.

People will talk about luck. “He got lucky,” they’ll say. What they didn’t see was the work that individual put in behind closed doors. They didn’t see the early mornings, late nights, and missed activities. They’ll think you’re delusional for believing in something so whole-heartedly. But when you begin reaching goal after goal after goal, their opinions of delusion begin to wane, and are replaced with a raised eyebrow and a nod of acknowledgment. 

But you don’t do it for respect, or glory, or acknowledgment. You do it because you have a desire to become better, no matter the cost. There’s something special that happens when you put the blinders on, shut out the outside world, and hone your focus on the things that matter to you. Opinions are just that—opinions. Defined as “a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.”

Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000-hour rule in his book Outliers. He references elite musicians, tech founders, and professional athletes who all put in the work to become great at what they do. The number isn’t arbitrary, either. Gladwell points out that these people had the time, support, and other resources to make it happen. And the common denominator comes down to the simple fact that they put in nearly 10,000 hours of work to achieve their respective levels of success. But even with their given talents, they most likely wouldn’t have succeeded without numerous failures amongst hours and hours of hard work and dedication. Again, persistence wins. 

Many successful entrepreneurs fail multiple times before building a successful business. In fact, founders with prior failures are often found to be more likely to start successful companies. One could call it a numbers game, but you can’t deny that they had to trip over a few hurdles to eventually win a race.

Think of a sales job. A sales rep often makes numerous calls prior to getting a sale. Cold calls, follow-ups, and persistence leads to success in that line of work. Five out of five calls leading to sales? Sure, it’s happened. But 100 out of 100? I highly doubt it. You’d be more likely to get one out of 100. That means you’ve failed 99 times out of 100. But guess what, that’s the norm in that line of work. If you aren’t comfortable with failure, that isn’t for you.

I challenge you to find someone you look up to, and discover what it is they did to achieve their goals. Find out how much time and sacrifice was involved.