Embrace Failure
By working on my autobiography, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the life I've lived. I've also examined where my life is headed. So an autobiography gives us the chance to see our life as it was, is, and how it might be. As I have written tips on writing your story, I hope that my experiences will motivate others to write their stories. I mean, write about what has already happened and to write their future.
When I write about my own life, I invariably see areas in my life where I could improve. I remember a scripture that states that if you come unto God he will show you your weakness. I often feel the same when I approach my life. My weaknesses glaringly expose themselves to me.
My face still flushes when I recall certain events in my life. I still blush at various failures.
But what is it about failures, even past failures, that embarrasses me so much? Why do I find it difficult to confront failure?
Staring in youth, we are programmed to see failure as bad. "Don't mess up!" "Don't miss any questions!" "Let's see A's on your report this quarter!"
The programming continues once we enter school. We are graded on our ability to come up with someone else's right answer.
But failing is more than clear black and white. More than right or wrong answers. Failure even happens in areas arbitrarily established by society. Failure includes falling short of others' preconceived notions of success or failure.
Are you letting someone else define success for you? Our parents, friends, and family often have definitions of success they want you to live by.
Even, sadder is when we stop trying new things. When we're younger, we try new things almost daily. It's part of growing up. But then, at some point, we stop trying things. We start fearing failure. We ask, "What if I fail?" instead of "What if I succeed."
We're terrified.
Well, I saw something that changed my view on failure. Turns out that YouTube has other things besides stupid people doing stupid things. If you look, you can find some very inspirational stuff. If you do a search on 'Sara Blakely' you will find a video about Sara, the founder of Spanx. She explains that part of her success comes from her father asking her and her siblings what they had failed at in the previous week.
Again, he would ask how they had failed. Not how they succeeded. Completely different questions.
Asking what you succeed at tends toward mediocrity. Someone shooting for success will more likely attempt things where success is more or less guaranteed.
If you're not afraid of failing, you'll try new things. You'll find areas of success where you never dreamed possible.
Have you been unsuccessful at anything recently? I mean really unsuccessful?
I'm not suggesting that you say you're going to try something new and then either purposely fail or fail to try.
Get out there and do something you've never done before.
18. There are infinite things at which to fail. What have you always wanted to try? Go out and try it. Now.
Visit the article on Starting an Autobiography . Robert Brady's Autobiography Workshop is a fantastic resource for writing an autobiography .
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