I’m extremely sentimental right now. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I am sitting at my kitchen table, accompanied only by my computer, some coffee, and a string of Christmas lights that were never taken down. There’s a blanket around me, and Celtic love songs are my music of choice. That is reason enough to be sentimental.
My sentiments are geared toward the amazingness of being a self-educator. Today I held the sixth interview for my podcast that launches tomorrow. Matt Cannizzo and I talked for some time about intentionally creating an atmosphere where it’s okay to fail.
In fact, he held that anyone that wants to go into sales has to become comfortable with failure. It’s the truth. Humanity has become conditioned to believing failure is the opposite of success. Too many people stop at failure, because they think that means they are going in the wrong direction. The exact opposite is true, however. Failure is only a step on the way to success.
I would go as far as to say that the bigger you fail, the bigger chance you have at succeeding later on. Why don’t we see big failures turning into achievements, then? It’s because failure scares people. The minute it enters the picture, they turn and walk the opposite way.
Fear of failure is the biggest form of resistance anyone can face. In reality, the worst thing that can happen is not failure. No, it’s letting the fear of failure stop you from pushing toward your dreams.
Think of Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball stars. He didn’t face failure, did he? Wrong. He actually attributes his success to the failures he overcame:
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
That’s motivation. What would you do if failure wasn’t an option? Where would you be if you wouldn’t let fear dictate how you act?
Today, take the next step. Fear can only have as much power as you allow it to have over you. Dream big, fail big. Only then will you succeed big.