---
title: The Fringe Benefits of Failure
description: The Fringe Benefits of Failure
image: https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/potter1.jpg
---

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To follow up on [yesterday's rejection post](https://blog.crystalking.com/crystal-king/blog/2013/03/08/on-writing-the-power-of-rejection), I thought I'd share some wonderful inspiration from one of the most successful writers ever -- [J.K. Rowling](http://www.jkrowling.com), giving a commencement speech at [Harvard](http://www.harvard.edu/) in 2010 on the benefits of failure.  
 Some of the truest words she speaks: "One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author [Plutarch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch): ***What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality***."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHGqp8lz36c

The text of her speech can be [found here](http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination).

For my newsletter readers, here's [the video link](http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html).

###### Related articles

- [Real Talk: A fear of failure](http://crystalking.com/s/2013/01/31/real-talk-a-fear-of-failure/img) (venividiscribi.wordpress.com)
- [8 talks about learning from failure](http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/04/8-talks-about-learning-from-failure/) (ted.com)

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