Failure

Over the last several years, I've learned a lot about failure.

(Failure is such a dirty word).

When you fail at something you must decide: "How badly do I want this?" I was once pursuing something I thought I wanted, but failing in that pursuit woke me up to what I really wanted. After that failure, I dramatically changed my life's direction. That said, that failure is still too embarrassing and painful to talk about it, even though it got me on the right path. Very few people know about it.

Failure is also a wake up call. I've been studying the martial arts for a few years. When I went to grade for my brown belt, I thought I was so great. And then I failed the test. I was the only one in my group who failed. Talk about humiliating. I was angry and frustrated. My ego was shattered. I got over it and worked my butt off. I redid the grading and I passed. My karate is better than it's ever been, but I wouldn't have realized I needed improvement unless I failed.

Failure sucks big time when you're in the process of failing. But when you get some distance from that failure, you realize it happened for a reason.