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There may be nothing sweeter than success, but the road to achieving it should involve some ironic and unanticipated twists and turns that should seem like more like a detour than a shortcut. At least that’s how sports journalist Kazeem Famuyide explained his circuitous route to becoming a media professional.

His words of wisdom?

”Fail hard, and fail often,” Famuyide told NewsOne recently during an interview to discuss the mantras he uses to guide his personal life as well as his career. “The most gratifying moments of my life have always come after sever failure.”

He’s right.

It’s not a new concept, but it’s one that most people might shun if they’re expecting instant gratification in any arena of life.

“You’re not gonna fail if you’re not taking chances,” he said, underscoring how important it is to get outside of one’s comfort zone every now and then and take some risks. “The real lessons come from failing super duper hard.”

That concept should especially resonate for people of color, who many times are all but set up to fail in a number of walks of life. During Black History Month, we celebrate those who set the table for us to be able to eat better than they ever did, but to think that those pioneers didn’t ever encounter any stumbling blocks that ultimately helped strengthen their determination to succeed is naïve.

With way fewer resources at their disposal, those who made – and those who continue to make – Black history most likely all had to take a few steps backward just to take one step forward. The lessons, though, come from the setbacks, not from the success.

Still don’t get it? Being a sports journalist, Famuyide used a baseball metaphor to hammer his point home.

“It’s Ok to swing and miss,” he said.