The Smartest Thing I Ever Did Was

When I Was Growing Up, My Dad Would Encourage My Brother And I To Fail. We Would Be Sitting At The Dinner Table And He Would Ask, 'so What Did You Guys Fail At This Week?' If We Didn't Have Something To Contribute, He Would Be Disappointed. When I Did Fail At Something, He'd High-five Me. What I Didn't Realize At The Time Was That He Was Completely Reframing My Definition Of Failure At A Young Age. To Me, Failure Means Not Trying; Failure Isn't The Outcome. If I Have To Look At Myself In The Mirror And Say, 'i Didn't Try That Because I Was Scared,' That Is Failure.

I Shopped For Body Shapers For The First Time In My Life And I Was Horrified. They Were Thick - It Was Like Wearing Workout Clothes And They All Had A Leg Band On One Side That Showed Through The Pants.

I Think Failure Is Nothing More Than Life's Way Of Nudging You That You Are Off Course.

If Somebody Can Do Something 80 Percent As Good As You Think You Would Have Done It Yourself, Then You've Got To Let It Go.

Within The First Year Of Launching My Company, Spanx, I Decided To Go Over To England And Cold-call Harrods, Harvey Nichols, And Selfridges The Same Way I Had Cold-called Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, And Bloomingdale's Here In The United States.