Fail Forward and Often
Embrace the opportunities our poor choices provide.
We are only truly responsible for four things in our lives. We are able to respond (responsible) for what we think, what we feel, what we say, and what we do. We are not responsible for what other people do, just ourselves. The reality is that all of us fail to fulfill these four easy sounding things rather often. I believe how we respond to these failures will either empower us to become better versions of ourselves or stagnate us in the same old limiting ruts and patterns.
I believe most people respond to failure in one of three ways. Many people recognize areas of failure and respond by heaping shame upon themselves thinking they are just a terrible person…unworthy of love and belonging. Other people choose to blame others and take a defensive and prideful posture, justifying our wrongs as the result of others' failures. The problem is that neither of these two responses helps us to live and experience better lives. Rather, I believe these two common responses usher us into places of bondage, division, and hopelessness.
There is another option! We have the freedom to embrace our failures, own our mistakes, recognize the way we hurt others, and choose to allow these failures to refine and catapult us to new places of awakening and refinement. We can learn from our failures and allow them to drive us to new directions and a more enhanced version of ourselves.
I think it is also important to look at all of the ways we fail. How many times today will I fail in what I am thinking? How many times will I fail to choose gratitude over grumpiness? It is fairly easy to recognize the huge catastrophic failures in life, but it requires more effort and reflection to see the subtle and quiet forms of failure happening so frequently each day. The more I embrace the reality that I fail often, the more learning opportunities I can leverage to improve my life each day.
This is the heart of what it means to Fail Forwards and Often.
"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success."
-- Thomas J. Watson