There are two kinds of failure.
The first we're all familiar with: you try, you fail. Maybe the idea was inane. Maybe you tried your hardest but luck wasn't on your side. Maybe the deck was really stacked against you. Regardless, it stings to have stuck your neck out that way, to leave yourself vulnerable like that, to open the door for people to laugh at you, and ultimately fail.
The second we're also familiar with. It's when we think about all that could go wrong when faced with a new opportunity that we're blinded to what can go right. It's when we're prodded to get out of our comfort zones and in the process see crisis, calamity and disaster. It's when you decide against running because you imagine how hard the course is going to be. It's when you forego sending in your resume because you decide you don't have a shot. It's when you opt not to bet on your business idea because in your mind's eye that business you haven't even started has already gone bankrupt.
The former hurts but it's the latter that's really fatal: failure before you've even tried. Its nothing more than anxiety, which Seth Godin acutely describes as merely failure experienced in advance. It's self-defeating: give in to anxiety and it will suck out your very will to succeed.
Nobody likes to fail. But worse than failure is never having even tried.
3 comments:
hey Bri. i read from your "The About Me Archive" that your mom thinks you look like Matt Damon. Believe it or not, you ALWAYS pop in my head whenever i see Matt Damon too. :-) maybe you have some resemblance i can't exacly pin point but well,that's it, you have it with Matt Damon. naks, Mr Bourne Identity? not bad.... :-)
hope all is well with you, Bri! :-)
- Jang
Jang, at present, I look more like FAT Damon, if at all...=)
I trust all is well with you and yours. Nice to hear from you, as always.
Hi Bri, don't be too hard on yourself. at least it's still MATT DAMON that you look like, di ba?
cheers,
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