Absence of Success

So you failed. Alright you really failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You think I care about that? I do understand. You wanna be really great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you're still smiling. -Elizabethtown

Today I've decided we will examine a topic that, again, correlates to a previous topic:  fear & failure.  Now, we've all heard enough of the old cliche' sayings about failure actually being when one gives up, rather than when one doesn't reach a desired outcome.  I propose to you an even greater failure than that--not trying in the first place. 
I watched a really great movie last weekend (Elizabethtown--see above quote) that dealt with loss, human emotion, and failure.  This was my favorite quote from the movie and I thought it was worth sharing--and so much so that it inspired today's blog topic.  As one of the characters points out in the movie, failure is going to happen.  Name me one great who did not fail?  The light bulb took how many chances before it worked?  And while Bill Gates is one of the smartest people alive, I guarantee that he screwed up once or twice before inventing every amazing copyrighted piece of technology known to man. 

Little La:  While I may have been potty trained,
I clearly did not know how to wipe my face.

Let's take some of our own personal references.  How many of you are capable of wearing underwear all day long without an accident?  How about walk on both feet without falling?  Perhaps you are able to recite the entire alphabet?  And yet  none of us was born with the ability to do any of these tasks, and did not wake up one day with a miraculous ability to manage our bladder, walk, and sing our ABC's.  Somewhere between NOT doing these things and being ABLE to do these things, there was gray--there was failure, there was strength to try again, and there was eventually mastery.  And with these successes, we continued onto others--wearing "big boy" or "big girl" underwear, running and maybe skipping, and learning how to use our ABC's to write and read.

Nothing like an embarassing story here to make a point, right?   April 1998, I turn 16.  And as any 16 year old would do, I studied off my little behind to prepare for my driver's permit, then took the class, and then came time for the driving test.  I was nervous as all get out.  I waited in line in that beautifully decorated and magically perfumed room (note sarcasm, please) for my number to be called.  The moment finally came and I was called to the car.  I showed my ability to honk a horn, turn on the lights, and turn on the engine.  I pulled out of the parking lot and onto Highway 67, tooling around town while displaying obvious blind spot checks, frequent rear view mirror glances, and making nervous conversation with the stranger in the car who determined my fate.  I went the speed limit, stopped at all signs/lights, changed lanes, and parallel parked.  As we returned to the DOT, I was instructed to pull into a spot and park.  I needed to park in a spot on the right.  I turned the wheel and realized I had not pulled out far enough left to clear the car in the space next to me.  "I don't think I'm going to make it," I said, but was urged on.  With a foot on the break, I inched my way forward until--TAP, I hit the car next to me.  I had done everything perfectly--and then HIT A CAR IN THE PARKING LOT?  Let me tell you folks, it takes a special kind of person to be as genius as I am.  In the end, I passed the test because I had indicated that I didn't think I would make it--there as no damage to either car (no report was even made) and I made it out!  But not with a little failure.   

So in considering fear--tell me what accomplishment you have achieved WITHOUT failure at some point?  Has ANY greatness ever been achieved without failure?  Any Gold medal one?  Any book published?  Any record set? Not likely.  So in our attempts to work toward our goals and dreams that we are fearful of achieving because we may fail--I remind you again:  YOU WILL.  It is inevitable.  But that fail is the best kind--the kind that we can learn from and keep going, rather than the failure to try in the first place.  You failed?  So what.  So did I.  So did your Mom.  And your Mom's Mom.  It doesn't make you any more special that the rest of us--so fail big and keep going. 

Still looking for Super Star submissions--where you guys all at?