Failure.
What does that word mean to you?
To many, failure comes in many forms – it could be a goal you didn’t achieve, having to deal with rejection or, given the current economic climate, losing one’s source of income. It is fair to see these setbacks as failures, but to me, failure is when you stop trying.
Life is a struggle. From the day we are born to the day we die, we are constantly struggling. We struggled when we took our first steps, yet we persevere and here we are walking on two legs. We struggle when we learn our first words, yet we push on and we can communicate with one another. We struggle when we learn how to drive, yet we try anyway, and now we drive hulking beasts of metal at high speeds without crashing into one another (most of the time).
There are times in our lives when we feel that some things are just not worth doing. More often than not these relate to our personal goals and dreams.
‘I can’t be bothered publishing in that journal – I’m going to get rejected anyway,’
‘Nah, there’s no point in me running that business plan, I’m sure someone else has figured it out by now,’
‘There’s no way I’m starting my own business, I can’t even manage my own finances, let alone business finances,’
‘They are never going to go out with me, I shouldn’t even bother asking them out, they’re going to say no anyway,’
If any of these sound familiar don’t beat yourself up over it. It is normal to feel self-doubt whenever you are venturing into uncharted territory. What you should do though, is to recognise self-doubt when it appears, take it, and chuck it far, far away. Be objective about your situation, think about what you need to do, come up with a plan and do it anyway.
Because you only fail if you don’t try.
Back when I lost my job three weeks ago – I wasn’t sure what else to do, finding a new job in this financial crisis would be challenging to say the least. So I turned to this blog. At the beginning, I was just blogging to blow off steam – after a while I realised that people started commenting on my posts. Early on I was very hesitant to share my posts, especially in other social media groups. I kept wondering:
‘What if people don’t like my posts?’
‘What if they say nasty things about what I write?’
‘What if people scold me and insult me for saying the wrong things?’
By the end of the day, I had to understand that these were just my inner demons, trying to sabotage me from within. I had to quash those self-doubts by researching the heck out of my posts, double checking all my sources (especially all the technical ones) and cross-checking again with people smarter than me. I edited my articles and carefully worded my posts. Finally, I publish and I hit that share button and I don’t look back.
If I had never gathered the courage to publish and put myself out there – then I would have truly failed. But because I chose to push onwards, I am still in the game and I’ve been receiving a lot of really great, positive feedback about my work. I haven’t received any negativity yet, but when I do, I will be able to objectively look at it and deal with it in a positive way.
Now I embark on the next stage of this journey – becoming an online entrepreneur, monetising my blog and offering services to my readers. I won’t lie – I am scared of what the future holds and what people will think about me but I know full well that as long as I keep trying, I will never fail.
These times are difficult times for everyone and for all my readers dealing with difficulties and setbacks in their lives – keep your chin up, keep on pushing and never stop hustling. You may not realise it now, but there is opportunity everywhere, you just need to keep looking, you just need to keep trying.
Because, you know,
You only fail if you don’t try.