Monthly Archives: January 2014

Dare to fail your way to the top

Men practicing Karate on the beachI remember how my mom and I used to love watching Jackie Chan punch and kick his way out of trouble in his action films.

While crazy-quick fighting scenes always mesmerized my young mind, the real treat for me was when they showed the “bloopers” at the end of every movie.

As a kid I laughed it off as some joke, but as an adult, I appreciated that even after suffering these funny, and sometimes very painful mistakes, they always ended up making some kick-ass movies.

Yea I know, life is a little more complicated than an over-exaggerated Kung-fu movie; but, I sincerely believe, that to be great at doing what you love, it depends more on how you deal with your failures and setbacks then how perfect you are.

It’s interesting how some people take action on their dreams just as long as things are going well. But then, the second things get crazy, they hit the panic button and retreat to their comfy zone. And this my friend, won’t get you any closer to the life you really want.

I other words, if you don’t fully commit to getting what you want, you will probably self-sabotage yourself every time you meet an obstacle, a problem, or an unexpected situation. This is why you need to learn to deal with the fear of failure by becoming focused on your goals – the end result -, not the possible obstacles.

People like Tiger Woods and Jim Carey may seem like poster children for perfection and godlike talents, but what youre actually seeing are the results you get from all those years of following your passion and overcoming failures. The great thing is that if they did it, so can you.

Don’t believe the B.S. about famous and successful people having more abilities and talents than you. Almost all great people started out as afraid and insecure as you are right now. What made the different from the rest was that they decided that chasing their dream was more important than the problems they had to face to get there.

“Failures may look bad while they’re happening, but their purpose is not to stop you, it’s to polish you!”

Overcoming failures also teaches you powerful life lessons like humility, dedication, discipline, persistence and patience. It also centers you if you get too cocky. The more fearless you are about your obstacles, the faster you will see a way to dissolve them.

Let’s face it, success without failure is as lame as Lady Gaga without meat covered dress (love you Gaga :-)). So, develop some courage and dare yourself to fail until you make it. The only thing that you will regret is not doing it at all.

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Oh, I almost forgot. I once read that in one of Jackie Chan’s movies they had to redo a single fight scene over 2,900 times before it was considered perfect!

Remember that the next time you think your life is painful.