I think failures are just like having something like an incidnent on your record. As long as you learn from it, and know what you did and what to do to prevent it in the future it won't hurt you bad as long as you're not habitually screwing up as previously mentioned.

I know lots of people, including myself, that failed the CFI the first time. **** happens. I know what I did, and haven't made the same mistake since then.