Failure is ABSOLUTELY an option

It makes me really uncomfortable when people say things like "failure is NOT an option."

That's just a lie; failure is always an option. Even more true is that you will fail at many things in your life. Everybody does.

In business, and for every entrepreneur, failure has been a critical part of their path to success (whether they remember it or not). Failing gracefully and learning from failure is much more important than saying that it simply can't happen.

Some pretty great people know that failure is always an option, and not something of which to be ashamed:

When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. 

So I did ten times more work.

 George Bernard Shaw

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.
Benjamin Franklin

So next time you feel like a failure, or stop yourself from doing something because you might fail, don't blow it off by repeating mantras like "failure is not an option." Instead, honor your failures, learn from them, and remember that if you aren't failing at anything, then you aren't trying anything.