Failure Is Just Success in Progress

So said Albert Einstein and he was no dafty.

So why is it that we are so scared to fail now? Why do we expect perfection of ourselves and those around us?

Social media presents pictures and stories of perfect bodies, perfect relationships and perfect lives. Internet entrepreneurs who have played the game and made effortless millions.

No one wants to hear about the the bumps along the road. No one wants to be seen to fail.

There needs to be more conversations about how we deal with failure. It should be seen as a diversion rather than the end of the world. So your idea did not work out .......'nice try but let's have a go doing something else now' Failure should be embraced and accepted as a constructive part of a lifetime of lessons. It is how we worked it as kids before we became too preoccupied with how we are perceived by a faceless audience.

The way I see it, the bumps along the road are what makes it fun. How often have you laughed with colleagues about the tough times; the difficult customers, the disasters avoided (or not)?

The cliches you remember are the ones that are real; and while completely cheesy it is true to say that without the shade how would we ever recognise the light? The bumps along the road give us experience and resilience; as well as great stories to tell.

Like many, during lockdown I started listening to podcasts and without a doubt my favourite so far has been Elizabeth Day - How To Fail'. She talks to some of the most successful people of our generation and they all discuss 3 things in their lives they see as being failures. Inevitably, their reaction to those failures led to their greatest successes.

No one wins all the time. There is always a story of failed attempts behind the greatest success.

So if you have a dream you are not chasing - ask yourself why? Are you scared to fail?

Or are you scared to succeed?

lauren@lmcoachuk.com