Failure

When I was in high school, I was a pretty decent football player. I started at offensive tackle my junior and senior year. During preseason practice one day, I missed my block and the sophomore stud that I didn’t block freaking laid into our sophomore backup quarterback who just happened to be a stud as well. Very embarrassing. 

There is more…He broke his leg! Ambulance came onto the field. Practice ended early. All the guys made fun of me. I felt horrible! I was embarrassed and ashamed. I seriously wanted to go hide.

Have you ever felt like that? That you need to go hide because of a failure?  

Let me be perfectly honest. I don’t like to fail! I hate it!

But I’ve learned a lot about it over the past few years and here is what I’ve found to be true:

Failure is inevitable and an opportunity to grow.

Failure can teach you what not to do.

Failure can bring you closer to God.

Failure can give you a voice into others lives.

Failure can keep you humble.

Every successful person I’ve ever read about or talked to has said that failure is not optional, it’s essential.

“Failure is the tuition you pay for success.” Walter Brunell

Sometimes the power of “What If” takes control of us:

What if I fall back into the same sin?

What if I never make any money?

What if it doesn’t work?

What if I’m not qualified?

What if people think I’m an idiot?

What if I never become successful?

What if I make a bad decision?

What if I live to be average and mediocre?

What if I never become excellent in anything?

In the next three posts I would like to give you some ways that I have learned to respond to failure. Hope it helps. Feel free to leave as many comments on what you’ve learned as well so that we can learn as much as we can about this topic!