PHILOSOPHY & SELF

First, Learn To Fail. Only Then Will You Succeed.

Learning to stay the course is an essential life skill.

Why do we have such a superstitious relationship with failure and her glamorous sister, success? If you admit that you failed does that mean you don’t or won’t succeed in the future?

Success and failure are both sides of the same coin, and if you are failing, that means you are trying. Failure is part of success.

Fact: You cannot and will not succeed if you don’t first try.

So, why are we ashamed if we fail? Why has failure become such a big, scary monster?

The absolute truth is that if you are failing, you are doing something right.

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” — Jack Canfield

Practice is the key to overcoming your fear of failing. When you do a thing over and over and over again, fear loses its grip. If that means 1,000 interviews until you get your dream job, writing 1,000 articles, or running 1,000 miles, the simple act of repetition removes the fear.

Why? Because whatever it is that you hold so high when you dream of success becomes more mundane and less scary when you tackle it again and again. You get better, faster, and more focused on getting it done, just like cleaning the kitchen after dinner. It becomes rote.

And that is the sweet spot.

Because you can’t be intimidated when you live in a place so familiar, it’s like breathing or doing dishes.

And if you fail when you wash the dishes, does that mean you won’t do them again? Nope. Do you beat yourself up over it and tell yourself what a loser you are? No, you do not because cleaning the kitchen isn’t scary — it’s only dishes.

And the same with anything else. Every challenge you give yourself is essentially the same as doing the dishes.

First, you must do the work. Then, you improve as you go. Finally, you reach a point where you get it done quickly and well, a pinnacle.

If you find yourself feeling the shame of defeat and failure is looking back at you in the mirror — it’s not a big deal.

Failure is like that.

Get back in there and do it again until you succeed.

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