People always say you learn more from your failures than your successes.

But they never say why, which I always found vaguely disappointing. It just supposed to “feel” truthful, right, for some reason we can’t quite pin down.

But here’s why, I think:

When you succeed, all you learn is that what you knew was good enough. You don’t need to keep learning.

When you fail, you learn that what you knew wasn’t good enough–and that your world needs to keep growing.

And you act accordingly.