Our favorite advice from Selena Gomez, Tory Burch, Priyanka Chopra, and more.

By Danielle Sinay

International Women’s Day marks both a call to action for accelerating women’s equality and a moment to pause and celebrate women’s achievements. There’s no better time to reflect on the women who inspire us with how they have achieved success and redefined failure. To celebrate, we’re rounding up some of the most valuable advice that successful women have shared with Thrive.

“There have been so many failures but I always try to turn them into opportunities, learn for the future, and move forward.”

—Tory Burch, founder, designer, and executive chairman

“A good trick is changing the way I frame things I am doing or saying. Instead of ‘having’ to pick up my kids, I ‘get’ to. Instead of ‘having’ to make them dinner, I ‘get’ to. It’s looking at seemingly stressful behavior and turning it into a positive.  I think just that little trick on a mindset can get you up and over any hump.”

—Molly Sims, actress, model, and humanitarian

“You are not what happened to you, you are what you chose to become after what happened to you.”

—Selena Gomez, singer, songwriter, actress, producer, and founder

“I like to keep a close eye on myself, and if I feel like I’m not centered or I’m not reading, exercising, and sleeping the right amount, I make adjustments.”

—Chelsea Handler, comedian, T.V. personality, author, and activist

“I don’t really like using the term ‘fail,’ because I think every opportunity, whether it goes our way or not, is leading us down the path we are meant to take. I believe it’s how I choose to learn from so called ‘failures’ and grow from the experience to be stronger or make better choices the next time.”

—Hilary Swank, actress, CEO, and philanthropist

“I try to not see my life in terms of failures and successes, but rather as feedback. I have learned to see both as opportunities for growth. I think it’s important to not be afraid of failure. You have to keep trying, evolving, and growing.

—Roma Downey, founder, producer, actress, and author

“Striving for progress and not perfection is so important, especially because many of us can suffer from versions of perfectionism. One of the things that we can do to combat that perfectionism is just strive for progress. Did you make any kind of progress today towards your goal? Even if it doesn’t appear at first glance, did you learn something? Even if you made a mistake or you failed, did you gain a lesson from it? Did you grow in some way? We can check that off as progress, and when we start striving for progress over perfection, eventually you actually do reach that finish line.”

—Marie Forleo, entrepreneur, writer, and philanthropist

“Discover every day as a new day. No one can tell you what you can or cannot achieve.”

—Priyanka Chopra, actress and recording artist

“You can’t control what anybody’s going to think of you or how they will act. If you can let go of that desire, or at least understand it’s there, and try to curb it — that can help with stress.”

—Ingrid Michaelson, musician

“I think it’s important to practice gratitude every day. How and when you practice gratitude, day or night, is completely up to you. For me, my gratitude practice starts the moment I wake up. I start every day reflecting on what I am grateful for and often end it the same way. Starting my day from a place of gratitude helps me step back, put things in perspective, and stay balanced for the day ahead.”

—Shelly Ibach, President and CEO of Sleep Number; Sleep Editor-at-Large, Thrive Global

==TG11

“Without failure, there is no greatness.”

—Dara Torres, five-time Olympian, 12-time Olympic medalist, author, and motivational speaker

==TG12

“We all go through life with our own toolbox, and our acquired tools may serve us, or we may need to get new ones. Failing is one way to figure out what tools you need.”

—Teri Hatcher, actress and writer