IT’S OK TO FAIL
From the greatest basketballer of all time Michael Jordan –
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Failure is the key to success.
If you’re a human being chances are you’ve failed at something before. Chances are you’ll fail again too.
Succeeding though comes from the ability to fail time and time again without giving up.
It’s imperative to experience failure on all types of levels as it gives us a better understanding of ourselves.
It helps us grow and forces us to learn. It motivates us and can reignite passion and determination towards whatever it is we are striving for.
It also gives us the ability to appreciate things a lot more and promotes humbleness and empathy towards others.
Anyone that knows me well knows that I’m a perfectionist.
I’m either all in or all out – there’s no in between. Everything I do is done with a lot of pride and it has to be perfect!
Otherwise I’m unsatisfied.
Even though this is definitely a good trait to have as it creates high standards, it has its downfalls as well.
Being a perfectionist doesn’t allow for making mistakes.
Doesn’t allow for failure. For being imperfect. To put it simply it doesn’t allow for being human.
As a result of my perfectionism I have regretfully missed a lot of opportunities in my life that I will never get a chance at again. All because I was afraid of failing or making a mistake.
There have been times where I have chosen the easy path. To be safe and not take a risk purely because of the chance I could fail. That safety was more important to me. Even more important than pursuing my dreams! Even more important than succeeding!
It sounds ridiculous. That’s because it is!!
The ironic thing though is that wanting to feel safe and not fail at things has arguably been my biggest failure to date.
Ultimately it has deprived me of learning, personal growth and countless missed opportunities.
A lot of us look at failure as a negative outcome and from a young age we are babied and taught to be safe.
Have you ever said goodbye to someone and followed with ‘stay safe’??
Stay safe! – What does that even mean?
It implies be careful out there because the world is scary. Don’t take any risks. Don’t get yourself into any trouble. Don’t fail. Wrap yourself in some cotton wool and you’ll be right.
Here’s a quote that can put things into perspective…
‘Most of us tip-toe through life just to reach death safely’
So true.
Imagine if Michael Jordan was scared of missing – he would have never taken a shot!
It’s the determination to succeed that will make you succeed and all of the failures along the way are a part of that. Thinking that avoiding failure and staying safe will help you succeed is a myth.
Time to start tackling the possibility of failing head on and viewing it as an opportunity to grow as opposed to a negative outcome.
Time to start making decisions and pursuing things that are important to you knowing very well there is a chance of failing. Otherwise your dream of succeeding will be just that. A dream.
If we have this type of attitude we can’t lose – We can only win or learn.
See you in the gym 🙂