One of the most popular sayings that you hear on the internet is “fail fast, fail often”, but many people don’t have a clear concept of exactly what failure is and so that saying often does not inspire people to action…I mean who WANTS to fail, much less often?
I think if we can define fear and remove our preconceived perceptions and beliefs surrounding the word “fail” it tends to not be so scary. Think about it…when did you ever hear that “failing” was a good thing? We grow up trying to avoid failure at all costs…and then we have people telling us “hey go ahead, it’s OK to fail”. We can certainly be forgiven for not wanting to embrace that logic wholeheartedly:-)
So how can we change our perception and belief about the words “failure” and our concept of it? Well first it’s helpful to reframe it from what we think about it now.
What is failure? Failure is one of two things: either the lack of attempting something OR not learning from what we attempt.
In other words you only fail when you don’t do anything or if you don’t learn from the experience..,think about how powerful the above statement is! There is no shame is being able to fail properly, but we are not taught that.
Now consider the statement of “fail fast, fail often”. If we now apply our new definition, what that really means is the more we attempt, the more we will learn and grow. Now this undoubtedly will mean that you must step out of your comfort zone and challenge those deeply seated beliefs you have held about the word “failure”, but you can do it now that you have a new frame of reference!
Remember: there is no failure, only feedback!
How do you move past your notion of fear? Does reframing the definition of fear sound like it would be helpful?
I’d love to hear your thoughts about fear.
Go Create the Life You Crave!
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