The Failure Lie

Fear of failure is just generated from our egos and ego is the enemy of nearly every good thing we can achieve. "What will (enter name) think? I bet they're all going to laugh at me. If I don't do it, they can't judge me."

What does it matter if you fail? So What! If you can step back and learn a lesson from the failure, you've won. Those that risk little are only guaranteed to live an unfulfilled life. Failure is the single most undervalued gift that us humans can have. Don't fear it, be humble, find out why you failed, learn from it, then do it again...better.

The only way to truly fail is when we try and protect our ego and start passing blame for our failure. Don't succumb to the great temptation to point the finger and place blame. Own it. Learn to love the failure. Only by owning it can you truly grow. It's so simple, yet, it is one of the hardest disciplines to master. Even now, as I write this, I'm afraid of rejection and failure. I'm sharing my thoughts for all the world to read, criticize, analyze. I'm just a local roofer...Writing a blog about absolutely nothing to do with the roofing industry. Its different and being different is fearful. But those that refuse to take risks will be reduced to nothing but critics of those that would.

Failure is a wise teacher that few have the courage to sit and learn from. What is there to be afraid of, truly? The vast majority of things we fear are purely driven from our own ego. If you eliminate your ego, what is there to fear? The reality is, if you fail, there is very little than can not be fixed or undone. Particularly if you commit to owning the failure and learning from it, picking yourself up and going at it again.

So take it from this old roofing pro. Don't listen to that little devil whispering docile lies into your ear, telling you that everyone will think you're a fool, everyone will make fun of you, laugh at you, snicker behind your back. That devil wants us all to get in line, numb our minds with Instagram and Netflix, take no risks, take no actions. Because if it can get us to fear actually living, being bold, taking risks. If we fear that, we will settle for mediocracy. If we settle for mediocracy we will stop looking outward, beyond ourselves, we will stop pushing, pursuing, challenging. Our thoughts will turn inward, selfishly, slothfully. Little by little our joy will vanish. When our joy is gone, love will go next, and when our love is gone, the enemy has won. Don't fall for the lie. Be bold. Go forth and be bold. And don't fear the failure.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt