If you want to learn to handstand, or juggle, or surf, you are going to invest a lot of time, and see a lot of failed attempts.
Often, people will use examples like this and talk about the fact that it’s important to be OK with failure.
However, this is often a bit of a cop-out.
When we talk about embracing failure, it’s easy to stay surface-level. Yet movements, skills and small tasks rarely count.
Why?
Because the failure that we really fear is different. It leads to us really standing out. Really being criticised. Really being alone.
Of course, those things rarely (if ever) happen from failure, but the size and vulnerability of the project needs to be significant.
Typically, we face this feeling when we are giving something of ourselves. Something we have worked hard on personally. Something we have put real effort into – something where we haven’t apologised in advance. Then we see this “something” flop – fall flat on it’s face, and we simply hear crickets.
When we embrace this kind of failure, then we can start to see bigger changes.
