Fail Spectacularly
I’ve failed many times. Sometimes, pretty spectacularly. A few years back I spent thousands of dollars on a Mastermind experience. During that year I took on the largest project of my career. I spent months designing the program, writing the workbooks, interviewing signature guests, building the website, drafting the marketing materials, and talking about my new program to anyone who would listen.
I dotted every “I” and crossed every “T”. I set goals, stuck to my timelines, and thought all the positive thoughts to manifest a huge breakthrough success – and promptly failed. Despite aiming for dozens of registrations, I got only two. Then one person dropped out. I ran that program right to it’s finish line, despite feeling sheepish at every live call with my now one-on-one client.
When it was all wrapped up, I quickly spiraled down into depression. I had worked so HARD. I had thought of EVERYTHING. I had applied everything I had learned about coaching, marketing, and personal mindset over the matter. I was crushed.
There are two things I learned from this massive failure.
TRY something before going all in. See how folks respond to it. Take on one piece at a time and let it build up organically, in response to what folks actually need and want. Investing all of my time and energy into my vision before knowing exactly what about it is most desirable, and what folks don’t really care about just leaves me feeling depleted.
It’s not really a failure. It’s the fertile ground of GROWTH.
I have never taken on such a big project again. But I have gone on to do some amazing things, that actually turned out really well. I decided to begin running yoga retreats, and started small. I ran weekend long, close to Montreal retreats, and they were a complete hit.
The takeaway? We need to suck first. In fact, we likely will, and do. But we can’t let the fear of sucking stop us from trying. It’s through these seeming failures that we figure it out. That we tweak, course correct, and change directions all together until we nail it.
If there is anything you can learn from MY mistake, let it be this – don’t go all in right out of the gate on your first try of something new. Start small, practice, and perfect a long the way. As much as I want you to fail (yes I said that) I also don’t want you to crumble in defeat when you do.
What are you hesitating to try because you’re worried you’ll fail? What if you gave yourself permission to fail, and tried it anyway?
Starting before you are ready is the only way to go. If you’re not sure if you’re ready yet, book a coaching call with me. Together we can explore your dreams and how to get you to playfully fail at them sooner than you might be ready for.
