The majority of us grew up in a society where we are programmed to avoid failure as much as possible.
It’s embedded in our culture: our family, our neighborhood, mass media, schooling system, work environment and basically everywhere you go.
The harshest truth to this is not the insults that come, it’s the branding that goes along with it; if you fail, you’re branded as a failure. This is absolutely ridiculous.
Next year ends my 1st decade in earning online (I started as a freelancer during my college years and founded Telic on the 3rd year of college). The biggest lesson from that journey is the ridiculous amount of failed experiments that needed to be had BEFORE there is an even slight chance of success.
Ask any of the first hires (who are still partner-employees) and they would easily say that for every successful product/department/expansion, there are 2 – 10 failed experiments in the forms of pivots, micro product announcements, mini teams and so many other catastrophes.
In fact, we fail every day. There’s always a problem, an issue, a hiccup. But those failures, whether minor or major, pave the way for the next reiteration.
Since this is true in every realized potential, shouldn’t we rejoice after taking the leap yet falling short?
If this is true, shouldn’t we rethink how we react knowing that each failure gets us closer to a desired result?
If this is true, shouldn’t we embrace failure as a tool to hone ourselves and the people around us (especially if we lead)?
If this is true, shouldn’t we structure our families and loved ones to withstand the failures and maneuver our ways into a more desirable positions?
The goal ISN’T not to fail, the goal is to fail as many times possible but just enough not to be out of the game.
As long as you’re playing, you still have a chance to win.
So I beg you: please fail… because you need to.
