I speak with people quite a bit who beat themselves up with all their “failure” stories. They think their failures mean they are not successful. The reality is failure is a necessary part of success.
There is no one in the world that hasn’t failed, multiple times, at everything. The most successful people have the biggest failure stories. Myself included.
We are taught to not speak of them, to hide our failures and shame. This paints an artificial picture of what success is, who is successful, and what they did to get there.
As someone who embraces not knowing, of taking the path no one else has taken, there is an inherent risk with everything I take on. Most will not work out. I will fail more times than I succeed.
I will be told “No” more times than I am told “Yes”.
I’m going to go so far as to say failure is a necessary part of (eventual) success. Especially right now as the old rules we knew are out the window.
Right now I’m inventing new things for me to do and explore. I have no crystal ball. I will only have clarity when I look back and reflect on where I am at that time and what I did to get there.
My kids and I were watching a SpaceX rocket test a few weeks ago and the entire thing blew up. I explained to them that as devastating as that is, better to learn from that failure than when there are people on board.
I just realized I have pages and pages of ideas that have gone nowhere. They “died on the vine”, in other words – they failed. But I go through them so fast I don’t hardly think about them anymore. It’s on to the next thing.
I acknowledge that the person I am today is the sum total of everything I’ve ever done. Every experience, every success and yes – every failure. I wouldn’t trade a thing.
Now I don’t let fear of failure stop me from doing something. I give myself permission to fail. Failure means I’m trying new things and taking risks.
The difference today is I celebrate that, my risk taking, my audaciousness. I’m willing to bet that you, blog reader, like this about me. I don’t use those failure stories to beat myself up. It makes me awesome and the person that I am.
What have you learned from your own failures and how did they facilitate your eventual success?
