My life has been filled with thoughts around the idea of failure. As a child, according to my father, failure was NOT an option, and only excellence was acceptable; mediocre was, as my son puts it, “meh.”
According to my father, being anything other than the best was unworthy, unremarkable and ultimately a road to nowhere. His teachings were the bedrock of my philosophy, and they became my purpose to achieve. (Ok, I get it—there is a symbiotic relationship between high achievement and a more successful life, in one sense, and as my father grew up in The Great Depression, security was utmost in his thinking.)
What I did learn in my career is that growing towards successful outcomes is a process that requires risk-taking (something my father was not at all comfortable with), and those risks lead to failures.
I remember his great disappointment when I left my CPA license behind to pursue a career in financial services. He could not understand leaving behind the security of a field always in need of good professionals.
My father never could see that failure leads to learning that, hopefully, leads to successful outcomes. Well, in Chapter X, it’s time to embrace “failures” as the necessary waypoints to finding that which is meaningful, important, fun, interesting, worthwhile and satisfying.
Being untethered from the responsibilities of work should be your golden ticket to play, explore, invent, experiment and discover things that make you happy and align with your values. But along with that ticket comes the possibility that you will try something that is not fun, satisfying, worthwhile, or enjoyable—and it must be chalked up as a “failure”.
But it’s really not a failure. It’s just something else you’ve learned about yourself as you search for meaning, purpose and satisfaction. The only real failure is not attempting, not digging into a new possibility, or experience that might lead somewhere or nowhere.
Follow your heart in an unexpected direction. Experience new things that will lead to learning and understanding, and by all means approach with joy and a keen sense of wonder!
