Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about a topic that nobody really loves talking about: failure.
Typically, when we think about failure, it’s a dirty little secret. We want to pretend it didn’t happen. We don’t want to talk about it. We beat ourselves up. But, why?
The truth is, if we go through life without failing, we aren’t really living at all. Because falling down and taking risks makes us who we are. For the most part as humans, we fear failure because it’s not glamorous. But it is so crucial for building our character and building who we are as people.
When thinking about how living a life that is safe all the time isn’t really living, I’m reminded of this quote by Hellen Keller:
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Faith alone defends.”
If you have people around you telling you, “I told you so,” ignore them. Understand it’s okay, and even necessary to fail. And while it’s perfectly okay to fail, it’s not okay to give up.
Think about a baby. When a baby is learning to walk, she is going to fall down over and over again. She doesn’t look over her shoulder and think, “Oh, I must look stupid.” She just keeps falling and failing until she can walk.
But when you’re falling, it can be hard to understand the importance of the failure. When you fail and recover, remember to stop and look back and understand the importance of that failure.
Personally, if I could go back in time, I would have made it a nightly occurrence at the dinner table to ask my daughter what she failed at that day. And I would have shared what I failed at. Because taking those moments to reflect on failure can make such massive and positive impacts on our lives. Give it a try!
Life is good.
Jeff
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