Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas views failure as a motivator: "It pushed me to excel."

At the 2012 Visa U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, Gabby Douglas aimed to win the individual all-around gold.

On the floor, the three-time Olympic gold medalist discovered herself in the first skill of her routine.

"Douglas, who is currently promoting her partnership with Ancestry, tells CNBC Make It that she made a mistake and fell on her back handspring layout. She asks, "How do you go on from that? Do you give up? Do you have an attitude?""

Instead of accepting a poor performance at the competition, Douglas believes her mistake strengthened her competitive drive.

"The 28-year-old says, "The mistake motivated me even more to do floor well, vault, bars, and end up coming in second place. I was determined to put that mistake aside and focus on what I came here to do.""

For Douglas, who is a member of Team USA gymnastics and aims to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, both her successes and failures in achieving her goals are equally important.

"Success for me was failing," she says to Make It. "I fell seven times and made mistakes. This allowed me to go back to the gym and identify areas that needed improvement."

Gymnastics being physically and mentally demanding, Douglas found that failing and getting back up helped her maintain her edge.

"Ensure that all your bases are covered for all events and skills," she advises. "My failure motivated me to strive for excellence and push myself to my limits."

An example of a growth mindset is Douglas' approach, which is the belief that there's always room to improve and learn even when you're the best at what you do.

Laurie Santos, a Yale psychology professor, discovered that developing resilience to bounce back from failure in public speaking was key to her success as a viral TED Talk speaker and podcast host.

"Santos stated that one of the most effective methods for improving is to encounter failure and its repercussions, which enables us to gain knowledge on how to perform better in the future."

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