“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and repeatedly in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
– Michael Jordan
When we fail, something extraordinary happens to our brain. It expands because we are gaining new information about our experiences. Then the brain returns to its original dimensions, but retains the neural circuits created by this new information, expanding our learning thanks to trial and error. Making mistakes makes the brain more mature and synapses more efficient. Failure makes us smarter.
The question to ask is this:
Is the desire to learn stronger than the fear of making a mistake?
Fear of Failure
Depends on
Two Factors
1. How I tell my story and interpret the mistakes I have made.
2. The team environment: Is it receptive to experimentation? Is there a culture of perfection or a culture of learning? How are my mistakes treated by the coaching staff? Are errors corrected in a timely manner to allow for optimal learning?
3 Suggestions to
Improve The Fear of Failure
1. Do not throw in the towel too soon
John Wooden is considered one of the best basketball coaches in American colleges. He has won 12 championships, 11 of which were consecutive. Many people wonder how he got there. For the first sixteen years of his coaching career, he won nothing. Many would call this phase of his career “low” or “unsuccessful”. He considers it “preparation”.
2. There is no more powerful opportunity than failure
If you have learned something and have put forth your best effort, you have been successful. Too often, we measure success or failure based on the final result rather than the process. As Robert Kyosaki says: “Sometimes we win, sometimes we learn”. Failure is a vehicle, it’s a friend. It is the element that connects the dots and guides us towards success.
3. The past is not the same as the future
Tony Robbins argues that “The only thing that stops us from getting what we want is the story that we keep telling ourselves about why we’ll never make it”. We have the power to forge our history on the basis of our daily reality, and not on the basis of what has happened to us in the past.
Ready to commit to making the next mistake?
Work hard, play hard!
“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
– Jim Rohn