Free to fail
Imagine waking up every day excited to fail. Picture what it would feel in your body, your mind, your soul to be excited about all the failures you will have that day. I picture myself at the counter making coffee, smiling through sleepy eyes as I think about all the surprising ways I will fail. My entire body feels relaxed as I get dressed for the day, excited to go into the office. My heart flutters with excitement as I think about how many opportunities I will have to fail before noon today.
Notice how you feel as you picture yourself excited about failure. Did you feel excited? Anxious? Close to having a panic attack? Deep breaths. This is only a simulation. And it's about to get better. Go back and read the first paragraph again, only this time replace fail with learn something new, failing with the word learning, and failures with lessons. If your are one of those people that prefers the status quo and loathes failure, piss off already. I have nothing to offer you. Or stay and try something new. Your call status quo people. Everyone else, humor me and read it again.
How did you feel as you imagined yourself walking through the day free to try things and fail? Imagine what could be possible if every employee at your company embraced failure. Leaders, picture your teams truly excited to fail and learn! What opportunities would present themselves, simply because you high-five failure as often as you fist-bump success? Imagine the possibilities...
Employee A knocks on her boss' office, smiles and says, "I tried this new thing. Here is what I learned. Here is where I failed. Can you help me?" Her boss, also excited about failure, sees an opportunity to coach her employee, better preparing her for the next time she fails. Employee A, excited about failure, is able to receive coaching, speaking open and honestly with her boss about what went wrong.
Employee B is failing a lot, causing more work for the team. She's excited about failing, but she could use some help. Employee C is excited about B's failures over the past few weeks, but she's currently feeling the brunt of the work. She walks into Employee B's office, smiles and says, "You really failed a lot on that last project. That's a great opportunity for you. But it presented some problems for me that I would like to share with you for the future." Employee B smiles back and says, "Thanks. I failed so many times and learned so much along the way. I appreciate your feedback so I'm better prepared next time."
No, these scenarios aren't science fiction. There are exactly what happens when people truly feel FREE to fail. When you reframe failure as your friend, you unlock unlimited potential.
If you were free to fail, what would you do differently? What doors to possibility would open for you? And more importantly, whoo will you feel free to fail with?
