Do You Fear Failure?
Douglas MacArthur said, “There is no security on this earth. There is only opportunity.” I’m not sure how many of us believe that quote. We are always looking for security in our everyday life and in this world. Even the United States when it set up the old age pension called it Social Security. As if the US government could provide security for everyone who reaches that age of retirement and hasn’t been able to adequately prepare financially for those years.
I’m not writing about the idea behind Social Security. The government program or programs are simply a reflection of human feelings and emotions. The idea of security appeals to us. We all want to feel secure no matter how old we are, where we are or what we are doing. However, in our quest for security the vast majority of people give up their dreams and aspirations.
We fear failure. Failure speaks of insecurity. There are very obviously two sides to failure. The internal and the external. First, what we think and feel about ourselves. Secondly, what people say about our trying and failing.
I realize that what other people say plays a huge part in what we think about ourselves. Why is it that the very people who laugh at us are the very people who were afraid to try? Yet, because they laughed at us we feel humiliated, embarrassed and chose not to try again. Often that means not trying anything that looks I can’t do it the first time.
If we try something and fail we will do everything possible to destroy all the evidence that we even tried it. We are too embarrassed. No one ever becomes the best on the first try. Failure must be accepted for what it is and this is a learning process. Have you ever looked at the lives of some of the great men of the past?
Henry Ford forgot to put reverse into his first car. Enrico Caruso was told his voice sounded like the wind whistling through the window at his first audition for a voice teacher. Ignace Paderewski was told his hands were too small to master the piano. Abraham Lincoln had failure after failure until he finally succeeded in becoming the President of the United States.
I think it is pretty safe to say that it is impossible to succeed without failure. It your right to fail and it is as important as your right to succeed. Susan Aimable was willing to take that risk of failure because she wanted to succeed. ebaygoldennuggets.
Take a risk. Climb out on the small limb of success. If the branch breaks, climb the tree again. There are multiplied potential leaders who have stood back and let someone else take the risk and succeed. Risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing. That person is a slave and has forfeited his freedom.
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To expose feeling is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure. - Author Unknown
Attitude is the determining factor of whether our failures make or break us. To accept failure as final is to be finally a failure.
James Heller
About the Author
I worked in the corporate world for 15 years - oil & gas taxation, payroll account. The next 27 years have been spent in church ministry. Internet Marketing is allowing retirement. www.joannaheller.com
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