Have you ever been afraid of failure? Do you think that successful people have never failed in their lives? Failing for the first time can be nerve-wracking and it hurts all the more when it is something you care about. Be it an exam, a relationship, an interview or a startup, the way to deal with failure remains the same. Nobody becomes successful before tasting the nectar of failure, a bitter one, full of lessons. Failure is not a step backwards unless you let it pull you back. Instead of giving you a numbered list about how and why failure is important for you, let me give you examples of two game-changers from contrasting career paths. 1) Thomas Edison Well, Thomas Edison was unsuccessful 9,999 times in refining the light bulb. Imagine that! He spent hundreds of hours and sleepless nights 9,999 times on refining a product, not even inventing…