Fearing Failure

There are so many people that find themselves becoming stale and inactive because they fear failure. Somehow we have come to believe that if we don’t succeed in our task all of our effort is a total loss.  However, nothing could be further from the truth. John Ortberg in his book, “IF YOU WANT TO WALK ON THE WATER YOU’VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT” clarifies this point by saying: “Failure is not an event, but rather a judgment about an event. Failure is not something that happens to us it is a way we think about outcomes.”  He goes further by giving two powerful illustrations. “Before Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio that finally worked, he tried two hundred unsuccessful ones. Somebody asked him, ‘How did it feel to fail two hundred times?’  ‘I never failed two hundred times in my life’ Salk replied. ‘I was taught not to use the word failure. I just discovered two hundred ways how not to vaccinate.’   Sir Edmund Hillary made several unsuccessful attempts at scaling Mount Everest before he finally succeeded. After one attempt he stood at the base of the giant mountain and shook his fist at it. “I’ll defeat you yet,” he said in defiance, “Because you’re as big as you’re going to get—but I’m still growing.” Every time Hillary climbed, he failed and every time he failed he learned something more until one day he didn’t fail. Some may have seen Peter as a failure when in the middle of his walk on the water he began to sink. But the bigger failures were the eleven disciples sitting in the boat. Again using the words of Ortberg, “Failure does not shape you; the way you respond to failure shapes you.” Peter no doubt thought, “I know what not to do if given another chance to water walk.” I don’t believe he gave up, neither should you. Push back the fear, keep trying and eventually you will get it right—you will not fail.