The point is more about reflecting on things that are false, but we tell ourselves to feel better. We don't like to think of a 17 year old as a finished person, however in other ways we try to make them that way.

The reality is that our expectations are much less realistic and bleaker. We love to talk about second chances and failing your way to success. On the other hand, 80% of us live in a very different world.

If you are on the following track which most of us are: high-school -> professional training -> early career -> senior career -> management -> senior management it's almost the opposite as described and downright bleak if you haven't always been a mega achiever.

Now I should possibly distinguish self-employed business people, entrepreneurs, and certain artists. Honestly even these exempt professions it can be like that, and there's exceptions to traditional professions.

Anyway, for most of us it's all about demonstrating perfect success every step of the way. You may be able to "get away" with certain things, but they can all still seriously hurt you. It doesn't take much before you can be perceived as valueless. Sometimes we talk about this, but we seem cautious about admitting it works this way.

So, contrary to the idea that being a failure is okay, most of the time the process looks more like detecting ANY failure in your past and not letting you in the door. After all there's 20 candidates that didn't get a D in 3rd grade biology.