Failure Has Its Benefits

“The Fringe Benefits of Failure” by J.K. Rowling

First, I must acknowledge James Clear. Without him, I would not have found this speech by J.K. Rowling, or a myriad of applied psychology writings that often hit me like a bulls-eye of a target — his website is recommended for perusal by the (applied) psychologically-minded, who might be reading me anyway.

Then there is the Rowling address. It was her quirky title that hit me at a time of spiritual vulnerability. “The Fringe Benefits of Failure.”

I would not diminish her address by pretending to summarize it. I would say only that “success” is too often externally defined, that anguishing turning points are a necessity of life on this earth, but that her focus on feeling the visceral moral anguish of her employment chronicling human torture under totalitarian regimes for Amnesty, International in the U.K. somehow transform into the joys of Harry Potter should give everyone hope.