Monday Motivation - A Perspective on Failure

I was chatting with a writing friend about writing. This person wanted to write a really out-there book that was both technically challenging and outside of the norm of what is being published. My friend said, "I'd write it if I wasn't so afraid of f-ing it up."

I probably wouldn't have really thought about what my friend had said, but something about it really stuck with me. I chewed on it for a week. Do you know that feeling? When you just know there is some insight if you can just dig deep enough? The thought is like a thorn you need pull out.

So I was on one of my morning runs where I let my mind just totally slip into that hyper-creative and abstract place, and then bam! Like a bolt of lightning, I had to stop and scribble down in my notes a bunch of thoughts. I realized the thing that stood out to me was how afraid my friend was of failure.

When we realize we are afraid of something, we reach for the obvious, immediate question which often feels belittling, "what are you afraid of?" There's a belief that if we can voice our fear, somehow the voicing of it will make it magically disappear. But, I don't know. I've often only felt worse—more afraid—when I spend an hour digging into what I am so afraid of. And why wouldn't that happen? Why would we believe that if we just voice our fear, that somehow it won't be that scary all a sudden?

Support the Show.