Happy Monday, y’all! Sharing some #MondayMotivation to encourage someone who may be scared to take some big next steps in life. Hopefully, my story and this quote from philosopher Seneca will help a bit.
After graduating college, I slowly became afraid to take risks when it came to significant life steps, including my career. In trying to find a job, I faced so many letdowns and rejections that I began to not even want to try to advance in life. Which sucked because I was so ambitious before then (then again, I was also used to winning.). Fear of continual rejection made me shut down.
So my dad started sharing this old saying with me: “Nothing beats a failure but a try.” Essentially, I would never know what I could accomplish or learn unless I actually tried my hand at it. Unless I actually went for it. I began to shift my mindset when it came to going after new things – at best, I would succeed and grow in whatever opportunity I went for. At worst, I would fail at it, but at least I could say I tried. And potentially would learn something (either a skill or something about myself) in the process.
We sometimes let our fear of failure get in the way of our potential. We can become so afraid to lose that we become afraid to even play our hand. And we also forget that failures typically come with any new thing we set out to do. Mistakes and losses along the way don’t make you a loser. They make you someone who made an attempt and learned from it (if you don’t let them get you down).
We don’t learn unless we try. We don’t win unless we try. We don’t grow unless we TRY. So whatever opportunity, venture, or idea is staring you in the face, try it out. If you really feel like you will be able to grow in some way, take a (calculated) risk and go for it. That’s where I’m at in life. How about you?
Imperfectly B 