James Cameron said that. And he should know. He made PIRANHA II. Absolute 1981 trash. But if he’d given up after such a dismal failure he would have never created AVATAR. Indeed, his future successes were born out of his early failures.
Fail. That may seem counter to what we’ve all been taught, but only in failing do we ever achieve any sort of growth, understanding, insight, expansion. Within each failure is the seed for future success.
If you look at your life, you will see that every success you’ve had has come from overcoming obstacles and disappointments, falling down and getting up again.
The willingness to fail is the spirit behind every major accomplishment. Because doing things that matter involves great risk. Once you decide that trying something – which includes failing – is better than not trying at all, you begin to see that failure, itself, does not define you. It is actually a construct of the ego, used to keep us from attempting new things. The ego will do whatever it can to keep you looking good. And there’s nothing more crushing to our ego-selves than attempting something and having the experience not measure up to our expectations. But the ego is just one tiny part of who we are.
The greater part of you – the seeker – the part that transcends the ego, desires adventure. It desires risk. It desires stepping into the unknown. It is not concerned at all with the outcome of things. Or how we look. Or keeping us safe. Or comfortable. Or defended. It just wants to create. Powerfully. Non-judgmentally. Fearlessly.
Can you imagine how radically different your life might look if you started to live from that sense of freedom?
Homework: This week – fail at something. Try something that’s hard. Do something in which you could get rejected. Attempt an experience that might humble you. Step beyond your comfort zone. You might notice that if you give up the attachment to the end results (and how you look) — that even if you don’t get what you desire — the act of attempting something is more fulfilling than the outcome anyway.
Why? Because you tried.
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that we aim too high and we miss, but that we aim too low and hit the mark.” — Michelangelo