Written by: Linda Ford, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
If you want to blow your own mind you must learn how to fail. Failure is the price of success. And the reason failing will blow your mind is because our minds are not wired for taking risks. They are wired to keep us safe.
You have to be prepared to suck at it!
Consider the years we were in school – we were told that failure is a bad thing – that we have to get the right answer. The school was all about passing the test. Getting it right. Failing at school filled us with shame and humiliation, and we learned how to avoid those emotions. Our educational system had it all wrong. They had it backwards. Failing is a good thing. It is the price for our success. You have to be prepared to suck at it! For those of you who are on an entrepreneurial journey – or anyone who is wanting to create something and share it with the world – you’ll get plenty of practice at failing. You’ll discover that most things you try will fail, but you’ll learn from them. Most things you create will suck. You’ll fall down a lot and make many wrong turns and missteps. And through all of it your brain will want you to know that failing is wrong and dangerous. But you’ll train your brain to keep going. You have to be prepared to suck at it. What’s really at the heart of avoiding failure is that we don’t want to feel an emotion. And entrepreneurs know all too well how it feels to risk putting yourself out there. We second-guess ourselves; We sit on our ideas instead of sharing them; We get caught in the perfection trap, and We live in fear of others criticizing our work. And so we allow our brain to have its temper tantrum and buy into how we must avoid failure. So the question is: Are you willing to feel humiliation, shame, ineptness, or embarrassment? Can you learn to feel good about feeling bad? Can you make peace with failure? The answer is YES. Because you’ve done it many times throughout your life. You kept falling over when you were learning how to walk. You kept falling off your bike when you were trying to get the balance thing down. Standing up again and getting back on the bike – getting your ego out of the way – this is the path to success. Don’t make your failure mean that you are a failure. Keep moving, learning – keep taking action. There is no certainty of how to achieve success, of how to get there. It’s going to take lots of risk and failure, and the path of what to do next will emerge only when you start doing it again and again. Humiliation, risk, fear, confusion, and shame will bring you success. Be willing to feel them all. Feel your way to success. Be prepared to suck at it and you will blow your own mind. And you’ll get there faster.
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Linda Ford, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Linda Ford is a master coach and author who specializes in helping introverted coaches and solopreneurs who want to have more impact and clients – who want to be seen and heard – but who struggle with imposter syndrome, hiding out fear of criticism, and the uncomfortableness of having to put themselves 'out there'.At the heart of Linda’s work is the belief that we have to develop a deep connection with our unique gifts, message and to know our true value. This is the rocket fuel that allows us to be seen and heard and feel the ease of putting ourselves 'out there'. When we do this essential inner work, we awaken our natural confidence, charisma, and power to connect and resonate with others. It surpasses and precedes any marketing strategy. Linda Ford is the co-creator of the online programs, The Confidence Coach – how to have more impact and change the world, and Confidence in a Box: If I’m so smart, then why don’t I feel more confident? Ford is also the co-author of the Kindle best-selling book Women and Confidence: The truth about the lies we tell ourselves.
