I used to be really afraid of the dark! When I was 10 years old I thought I heard someone in our house at about 2am (Why does all the scary stuff in the world happen at 2am?). I was so scared that I snuck into my sister’s room and crawled under her bed. I stayed there until morning when she looked over the side of her bed and all that was sticking out was my head – too BIG to fit under the bed!
There are still many things I am afraid of but there is one that trumps them all…I am afraid of not trying! It is such a great fear in my life that it pushes me past another big fear – the fear of FAILURE.
We are all afraid to some degree of failing but it is NOT the one we should be really afraid of! We should be AFRAID of not trying. Not trying is death by security! You will not actually die by not trying (not physically anyway) but you will die on the inside!
We undervalue and under estimate the POWER of Failure. It is the essential life process for ANYTHING GOOD! Failure always comes before success and is a mandatory process that everyone who wants to be better at anything MUST CONTINUE to go through.
I have been on a mission for the last 20 years to Fail as often as possible, and as long as I learn something in the process then Failure is invaluable. The only time you MUST FEAR failure is when you do not learn anything and you KEEP repeating the same one over and over.
Here is the grading system for the different levels of success:
Good/Average – they mean the same thing – AVOIDS Failure, PLAYs it safe and fails occasionally.
Great – Fails, learns and retries again often.
World Class – Fails, learns and retries again daily. Continues to push the “Impossible” boundaries that the Good/Average live within.
We are all going to deal with fear but it is my hope that YOU are MORE afraid of not trying then you are of failing!
Find Your Passion and You Will Find Your Life!