Every failure--even the worst ones-- helps us learn to do things differently in the future. "I learned how not to climb the first four times I tried to summit Everest," says mountaineer Pete Athans, who has now reached the world's highest peak seven tiems. "Failure gives you a chance to refine your approach. You're taking risks more and more intelligently." In Athans' case, his setbacks taught him that it was important to choose a less challenging route for his first climb up Everest. Learning from past mistakes and making changes helped him to reach the top successfully.