Failure

When was the last time you failed? I don’t mean you struggled at making a new dish for dinner or couldn’t complete a crossword puzzle. When was the last time you took a risk, you really tried, you gave it your all, and you came up short? (Bonus points if it was in public.)

For many, failure is their biggest fear. They’ve spent much of their life shielding themselves from the potential of falling short to the point that they can’t even remember the last time they did. They take on proj- ects that are well within their abilities, and when they don’t quite hit the mark, they rationalize why what they did was actually a success if you think about it the right way.

If you don’t occasionally fail, you aren’t trying sufficiently difficult, ambitious things. You aren’t stretching yourself and testing your abilities. Most people can easily lift a ten-pound dumbbell, but you don’t build muscle that way. Instead, you lift a challenging weight over and over again until your muscle begins to fail. When you reach your absolute limit, you push harder, then you quit. The next time, your capacity is greater.

When you don’t fail, your capacity never changes. You simply live and work within safe, predictable limits. And you never know what you’re capable of.

If you aren’t failing from time to time, you are playing it too safe.

QUESTION

When was the last time you failed? Do you think you are stretching yourself enough?