Cover Photo Credit: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-abeyta/three-things-you-should-know-about-failure_b_5405061.html
…and so should you!
In 2017, I set out to do lots of things. It was a year of doing, whatever the result was: “success”, “failure”, it didn’t matter. I wanted to stretch what my brain considered limits.
I’m afraid of heights, so I started rock-climbing. I may have failed to become as good as I had hoped, but just the fact that I had the guts to even combat this fear is a win.
I’m afraid of downing, so I started “surfing”. Nothing as glorious as what you see in videos online, but I body surfed in Thailand. I failed to do “proper” surfing, but I had the guts to go on a board and “risk” drowning.
I did many little things like that to mess my brain up. To tell it: “You know what, you can do this.”. Try, “fail”, try harder, “win”.
So now I know. Failure is just an experiment. You learn from it. It’s not a negative experience.
It’s all about the growth. Any progress is progress. The higher you aim, the higher the growth and the more epic the failure will seem. Yet in reality, higher growth is the underlying goal.
“However, “failing” to meet the expectations you set for yourself when aiming outside your comfort zone actually moves you much closer towards your goals than if you were to “achieve” something easily within reach.” — Nicolas Cole
And this is my mentality going into 2018. Here are my goals for January 2018 alone (unedited from my notes):
Gaining 4.5kg of muscle while losing about 3% body fat for an ectomorph in one month is INSANE!
Yet I set myself up for “success”. I researched workouts catered to my body type. I researched supplements. I researched nutrition. I know exactly what I’ll be eating for the month. And I mean that to the nutrition facts level. How many grams of proteins, carbs and fat for each ingredient of a dish. I know the proportions I need for growth.
In the end, I’ll be eating 4500 (good) calories every day. To put that into perspective: Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson eats 5000 calories a day! How insane is it to think I’ll eat almost the same and weigh 61kg only!
I will likely fail.
In that same list, I’m mentioning multiple business ventures: Become a writer, Sell a video game, become an investor, revive an eCom site I turned off and revive a web app I had stopped doing.
Pretty likely that I will fail.
Writing one article on Medium a day? While going to the gym and working 9.5 hours a day? And while doing other side-businesses?
What are the chances of me succeeding?
Now that’s one month in the year. I plan for all my months to be that insane. Maybe I’ll need one or two months of rest though haha!
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” — Robert F.Kennedy
“What defines us is how we rise after falling.” — Conor McGregor
I will fail all year, yet all the growth I’ll accumulate will be unparalleled. I will learn more in that year then I’ve ever learned in my entire life.
Now that’s what I call success!
Who’s ready to you fail alongside me?
Thanks for reading! :)