8 MasterClass Instructors Discuss How to Deal With Failure

Feeling down about not getting a callback, losing a match, or feeling like you don’t have the right opportunities? Staying positive through the hard times is a stepping stone toward success. Here’s some advice from world-class MasterClass instructors who know what it’s like to fail or be rejected:

The world’s number-one ranked women’s tennis player and winner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles says that learning from past mistakes has made her a better player. “You’re just not going to wake up one day and be the best in the world,” says Serena. “When I was younger, if I lost a match, I would get a tape of the match and I would watch it. And it was like reliving the loss again. But it was always like learning what I did wrong and watching and knowing all the mistakes I made and why I lost the match. And that’ll make you play better because for me, it’s nothing worse than reliving that lost moment. … It’s difficult at times to play when everyone expects you to win, and it definitely proves to be very pressure-filled. And it is not very easy to do. Sometimes I do crack under that pressure, and I will lose a match. But I realize at the end of the day, I’m playing for me. I’m not playing for anyone else, and I’m here to do the best that I can do and be the best that I can be on this day.”

The acclaimed writer, actor, musician, and one of the most accomplished comedians of all time views failure as a lesson. “I feel sorry for some younger comedians who don't get to bomb for years and years and years,” says Steve. “The value in bombing, of course, is knowing how your material works on the worst of nights. … Don’t be depressed by bombing failure. Just the sheer amount of performing and the sheer amount of failure is honing you. You’re learning something.”

The Emmy-winning host of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the world's most famous drag queen doesn’t believe in failure. “There is no such thing as failure. Failure allows you to find the places that you had no idea existed. Failure means that you had an expectation and that you didn’t reach it,” says RuPaul. “But the truth of the matter is, once you are inspired to get out of bed in the morning and leave the house, you are a success. And being in the game is the prize. A lot of the failures, a lot of the things that I thought were the worst things that could have ever happened to me, turned out to be actually good things. Because I learned how to do it. I learned what not to do. I learned what works for me.”

The Emmy-winning Good Morning America co-anchor chooses to highlight her issues to help others. “Make your mess your message. … Everybody’s got something. … Don’t compare your despair, whatever it is that you're going through. It’s not the cancer, it’s not divorce, it’s not unemployment—those aren't the tragedies. [The tragedy is] if you don't take the time to understand, ‘Why was that placed in my path? What am I supposed to learn from it?’ And more importantly, what can I share with others?’” Robin explains. “So if they’re going through this, they’re gonna be helped. It’s a mantra that has caught on with people and they understand the intent—make your mess your message. And that is to be of service to others through what you have gone through.”

The self-made billionaire and founder of Spanx has her father to thank for her positive perspective on failing. “Growing up, my father used to encourage me to fail. And he would actually, at the dinner table, ask me and my brother, ‘So what did you guys fail at this week?’ And if I didn’t have something to tell him, he would actually be disappointed. I can distinctly remember coming home from school and saying, ‘Dad, dad, I tried out for this and I was horrible.’ And he’d go, ‘Way to go!’ and high five me,” Sara says. “And I had no idea at the time but he was completely redefining failure for me. And so instead of failure becoming about the outcome, it simply became about not trying. And that truly is the only failure, is to not try.”

The retired astronaut and former Commander of the International Space Station focuses on taking the right approach to obstacles: “The way that you approach problems is a personal decision. When you’re confronted with something that you don’t know how to do, or a difficulty to overcome, you can sorta look at it however you choose,” Chris explains. “You can ignore it. You can say, ‘This is too hard for me.’ You can say, ‘I can do part of that, but not all of it.’ You can despair, or you can say, ‘I don’t know how to do that yet. But I’m gonna spend the next few weeks learning how to do that, so when this problem truly comes up, I can deal with this thing.’ … I don't think there’s any time in your life that you should consider yourself complete, that you’ve somehow finished changing who you are.”

American Ballet Theatre’s first African American female principal dancer likes to confront criticism head-on. “The first time that I did [Swan Lake] in New York City, that’s when it all kind of, like, hit me: that the expectations that are, you know, put on, especially, a brown dancer, when someone's being seen in a role that people just think that's not the role that you should be doing because of the way you look, it creates a different type of criticism,” Misty says. “It gave me this mental block, where I no longer could perform [the 32 fouettés in Swan Lake]. … Someone had filmed my performance on their phone. And they had posted a section of me in the fouettés, where I did maybe like eight or 10 fouettés, and then I went into a piqué manege. So you know, in my eyes, like, yes, I didn’t do what I hoped to do. … My initial reaction, of course, was an embarrassment and, like, shame. Then it immediately turned around, “And I was like, ‘No, I want to share this.’ And I actually posted it on all of my social platforms. … To be able to look at it and have, like, a bigger, broader perspective. … And especially for young kids, that you don’t have to run away from it. You also don’t have to entertain those people.”

The former Starbucks CEO says that young businesspeople can mitigate the risks of failing by accumulating knowledge. “I think there are a number of things that a young entrepreneur can do to mitigate and reduce the risk of failing. But you can't do everything. So what can you do? I would be a sponge and talk to every peer that you can find that has started a business and both succeeded and failed. What happened? What were the surprises? What should I expect? Because there will be things that you cannot prepare yourself for. And build a reference guide of a number of people who have had an experience that you're about to do. I think that'd be very helpful.”

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