On Failure
Seth Godin’s short, and, as always, brilliant blog post yesterday was something I had to read twice. The first two sentences read:
“But what if I fail?”
You will.
When I read that on his blog, it echoed in my head: you will, you will, YOU WILL. If only because you can’t win every single time. So you’ll fail big, and you’ll fail small, you’ll fail slow and you’ll fail fast. You’ll fail at the beginning, and you’ll fail at the end. To borrow from Dr. Suess: one failure, two failure, red failure, blue failure.
A Google search turns up some surprising results about people who have failed and yet, still had massive success and legacy in the long run: Walt Disney. Henry Ford. Thomas Edison. Names among hundreds of others that overcame supposedly insurmountable odds: Albert Einstein. Oprah Winfrey. Dr. Suess.
Every single one of them would tell me that it isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. (A phrase I first heard from my friend Jennifer.) Every single one of them would tell me that it is worth it.
So the question isn’t, “How do I keep from failing?”
The questions needs to be:
- How do I fail faster?
- How do I make this break?
- How does this not work?
- How do I fail bigger?
- How do I fail sooner?
- How do I own failure?
- How do I let failure define me?
Because it seems that on the other side of failure, history is made.
So this whole “fear of failure” thing? Get over that. Name the failure. Embrace it. It just means you are closer than ever to your next success.
Thank you for your encouraging words as always! I have some failures to face and admit so that I can move forward and make 2014 a success – I’m determined! I get to have coffee with Jennifer this morning – so thankful that StatAcad brought us together. Happy New Year to you! Wishing you a very successful 2014!
What a powerful post, Whitney! Well said, thanks for sharing!
LOVE!! It’s so true! How many “no’s” do you go through before you hear a “yes”?? Some say 10…but I think there really isn’t a number that “fits”. It’s how many “no’s” do YOU go through before you hit the big break? It could be 10…it could 15…but it might only be 2! Don’t give up on your dreams! God didn’t put that dream and promise in your heart if he didn’t already lay the plans for you to reach your destination.
Failure and fear were big topics during my coffee with Beth Hart! Man, we did some soul digging and big dreaming today! Thank you, Whitney, for this and for being a catalyst in bringing like-minded people together at Stationery Academy and beyond. Because we have to be able to be willing to admit failures and use them as stepping stones to our next adventure (as Beth put it today).
I love this Whitney, it’s so true and a great reminder it’s not an ‘if’ it’s a ‘when’. And that it’s ok. PS: I came across your blog on Commona My House and so glad I did! Jacqui http://www.brookeeva.com