On Failure

Just because you go the wrong way doesn’t mean you can’t turn around.

Failure. How does that word make you feel when you read it? Does it drape over you like a wet woolen blanket, heavy and scratchy and uncomfortable? Or does it energize you because you just discovered a way that doesn’t work, which frees you to try another way? I’m guessing the first one.

Most people don’t embrace failure. I sure don’t. I’d rather avoid it at all costs. But here’s the deal, folks. No one is perfect, leastwise no human. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to create things that others don’t love. You’re going to disappoint yourself.

But that doesn’t have to be an automatic ticket to the land of Despair.

Next time something you do goes down in flames, try looking at it from a different angle. Reorient your thinking by making that failure into a learning experience. Then start over again and try things a different way. You might fail again, but eventually, if you stick with it, you will succeed.