Fail More, Get Better

When I look at the kids training today… I can tell which ones are going to do well. It’s not necessarily the ones who have the most natural talent or who fall the least. Sometimes it’s the kids who fall the most, and keep pulling themselves up and trying again. – Michelle Kwan

If you never risk, you never fail.

If you never fail you never know the pain of falling down, or getting bumped, battered and brusied.

The beautiful thing about failure is that 99.999% of the time it’s not fatal.*

But it teaches a powerful lesson: that falling down is okay. It’s nothing to be afraid of.

People who never risk are in constant fear of the the unknown, of falling down – of somehow not be “okay.”

It’s interesting: risking/”failing” is a big part of getting better, and not-risking/playing-it-safe is most of staying the same.

*  *  *

* This might actually be low and the real percentage is higher . . . .

Similar Posts

  • Don’t Wait, Be Great Now

    A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier. – Tom Stoppard The great thing about stepping up and creating a great attitude within yourself, about modeling behavior, is that it confers (at least) two benefits: one you get to feel better and be more effective when you focus…

  • Sharpen Your Axe

    Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax. – Abraham Lincoln I am not suggesting that you spend 66% of your time exercising, but you – absolutely, positively – must exercise some, consistently. Is it hard to do? Yes and no. The actual doing is easy,…

  • The Power of Visualization (and why it’s hard at first)

    Picture yourself in your mind’s eye as having already achieved your goal. See yourself doing the things you will be doing when you’ve reached your goal. – Earl Nightingale Funny thing about the mind: turns out it can’t really tell the difference between something that has actually happened and something vividly imagined. Studies have shown that…

  • It’s Always Up To You

    No one ‘makes us angry.’ We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. – Jim Rohn I have little to add here. Only to ask, perhaps challenge, you to consider this and agree with it (which has tremendous implications for how you live) or to disagree (which too has tremendous implications for…

  • Be Kind Because You Can

    One theory says that if you treat people well, you’re more likely to encourage them to do what you want, making all the effort pay off. Do this, get that. Another one, which I prefer, is that you might consider treating people with kindness merely because you can. Regardless of what they choose to do…

  • Why Planning Works (Always)

    Anything worth doing is worth planning (at least once). Lest I lose a potential reader who may think “Why plan small tasks? They’re small… ” let me say that even small tasks can benefit from a careful – albeit quick – planning session. Maybe there’s a better way of doing things, or maybe new resources are available…