• Let go of a sense of fear. Validate that your failure means you’re trying for something that matters to you.
• Focus on learning. If you never fail, you don’t have the opportunity to learn as deeply because you’ve succeeded, patted yourself on the back, and kept moving.
• Feel the pain. Rather than avoiding the sting of a negative performance evaluation or ignoring the pain of losing your job, reflect on how it feels and how you can learn and improve for the next time.
• Be positive. You can also use failure to an advantage by managing your own thought processes.

Typically, failure is something people avoid. It can be painful, career-limiting, and disheartening. But failure can also deliver significant advantages—and contrary to common belief, you may reach your goals (or resolutions for the new year) more effectively when you find ways t...