Embracing Failure

One of the costs of pursuing dreams is the cost associated with the risk of failure. Many People don’t know what would make them really happy. Then there are others who do know but fail to act on it. Fear of failure paralyzes people in many facets of life. People don’t even try to do or get what they want because they’re scared of the consequences of being unsuccessful. This applies everywhere. My first encounter with this was getting up the courage to approach women. The psychological hit you can take is scary when you put yourself out there and someone rejects you. A big turning point for me was when I felt far worse for pussying out than I would ever feel from rejection. There is no embarrassment in approaching a girl and getting shot down in flames. Any guy with perspective watching this will respect you for the effort rather than look down on you for the result. You’re still better than 90% of the guys out there who wish they had the courage to even try.

Now what about taking this approach to failure to our professional lives? There are many reliable, non-risky ways to earn a living. Unfortunately many of these ways leave us feeling unsatisfied and generally living ordinary lives. If you’re doing something you’re passionate about and wake up in the morning with excitement then that part of your life is awesome. If that’s not you, then I ask you why not? I discussed in earlier posts that your happiness will not actually come from achieving your goal but from enjoying the pursuit of the goal. If you chase something really special, something in-line with what you really want and it doesn’t pan out you can look yourself in the mirror and respect yourself for having gone for it. I believe this type of attitude is what makes truly special people who achieve special heights of happiness and generally live awesome lives.

In the professional arena failure likely comes with financial consequence. You need to be calculated in your risk and be smart about it. However if you’re a capable person you can always find a way to earn money and bounce back from failure. In fact the key to feeling comfortable enough to take any kind of risk largely lays in being confident that you can cope with the consequences of failure. Believe in your ability to cope with and handle whatever life throws at you and you’ll expand your scope of options infinitely. 

Click here to see a related post about pursuing dreams.