That’s right. I don’t want you succeed at all. At last I finally peel back the curtain on my real intentions. I’m an evil genius who wants nothing more than your complete and utter failure in all you do.
…or not.
What is it that so universally terrifies us of failure? So often, when someone starts working towards a new goal, you’ll hear things like, “Yeah, but that would never work, so why try,” or “Well, I don’t really have a good option,” or even “I know that will never work!”
All of this is camouflage language; language designed to hide something.
So what do people really mean when they say these things? Usually it is simply, “I don’t want to fail.” And I’m hear to ask why not?
Too many people view failure as an end, but if you work towards measurable goals, then even if you don’t reach them you’ll have something to measure and learn from.
The other affect is something I call the Prom Queen Paradox. Many young boys across the country sit terrified to ask a girl to prom because of the dreaded “no” that might await them, so they take an old family friend with whom they have absolutely no chemistry. In actuality, the worst thing that could happen is that the girl says no. In the process, the boy might a bit about how to approach a girl, what to say, how to say it and he’ll move on and try again.
The only way to go to the prom with the hottest girl in school is to ask, just like the only way to succeed is to try.
What people don’t realize is that by spending all of their time fight to avoid failure, they’re also missing their opportunity to succeed.
It’s not about avoiding failure, but rather overcoming it.
If you look back over your past failures, I know you can clearly see what you “should have done” so why should achieving personal or professional greatness be any different. If you want to make a million dollars, start by trying and failing to make a dime. In the process you’ll learn more than you would have if you just sat around saying, “That will never work!”
So, to help you get out there tomorrow and start failing, let me know, either in the comments or via email what you consider to be one of your most regretted failures of the last year.
…and if you’re feeling bold say what you would do NOW to overcome it.
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