After watching High Fidelity, I decided to listen to Bob Dylan’s collective works – chronologically. That’s where I stumbled onto these lyrics from Love Minus Zero/No Limit – from Dylan’s fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home.
“She knows there’s no success like failure.
And that failure's no success at all.”
I’ve always been a firm believer that the thing that holds people back from their dreams – the biggest obstacle to success – is their fear of failure. Fear of failure isn’t an obstacle. It’s an assumed constraint. It’s like a mirage. It isn’t really there, but you still see it vividly.
A few years back I renovated a house. I installed wood floors, stained concrete, performed minor plumbing including replacing sinks and toilets, replaced electrical fixtures, tore down wallpaper, replaced wallpaper, painted, built a patio and landscaped the yard from front to back.
Most of those tasks I’d never done before. But I wasn’t afraid to fail.
Did I make mistakes? You bet.
I started to take a sink apart before I remembered to turn off the water. It was quite a surprise. Since then I’ve probably replaced a dozen sinks and I’ve always remembered to turn off the water. And then there was the ceiling fan incident when I thought the breaker was off. And, when I tried to lift too many concrete blocks, I got an umbilical hernia.
Life is full of failures. Like learning to walk or learning to read. Like asking someone on a date or asking for directions. You eventually learn from your mistakes and achieve success. You win a race. You place in the spelling bee. You get a date to prom. And you find the hotel that’s eluded you.
Failures are not fun – but you can learn a great deal if you’re willing. If you’re not, you’ll have a hard time achieving success.
Posted on
Fri, March 27, 2009
by Sean Taylor Simpson
filed under