Marketing Delmarva: "Be Willing to Fail"

Sunday, August 20, 2023

"Be Willing to Fail"

Reflections on life and growth; thoughts I felt were important enough to write down and share, because perhaps they will serve to inspire your journey as they have influenced mine...."Be Willing to Fail". Four simple words we've all heard dozens - maybe even hundreds - of times, right? Yes. Unless we can personally relate to a particularly moving example, this phrase may fail to encourage or inspire you....but I think I found the perfect way to explain it.

Note: I HATE this statement. It makes me think of weakness, "being okay with sub-par performance", or settling for mediocre work.

I resent the implication we should become accepting of failure; resigned to falling short; willing, even, to perform poorly; because doesn't that contradict everything we hoped to overcome? By admitting we can live with disappointment and missing our mark, aren't we also saying it's okay to be less than expected? 🤔 That's a tough pill to swallow it seems, and yet, a number of celebrities, star athletes, and successful people have all repeated this exact phrase...... "be willing to fail".

And then I learned of a guy named Zion Clark. Watching an episode of America's Got Talent, I heard the story of his life, and what he had overcome, and although this young man without legs spoke calmly and eloquently about his life, it didn't sink in until a comment regarding his wrestling achievements: "I lost over two hundred times in a row". This, from a young man who went on to become one of the top three wrestlers in Ohio, an All-American, and a member of the Team USA wrestling team. Clark (Clark also has experience as a pro MMA fighter, winning fights against able-bodied competitors and setting three Guinness World Records.) source:

Just prior to his performance on AGT, Mr. Clark stated "I'm going to show you what it looks like to live a life of no excuses."

No excuses.

Failing 200 times before triumphing.

But wait: How is this relevant to social media, marketing, or building your brand?

Because "with anything in life, if you aren't willing
to fail, you'll never learn to fly."

Read it again.

Below I've included a couple of images to inspire and encourage you to fight the feeling of being afraid to fail (click on any image to open a larger version in a new window). Get out there and do what you dreamed of!