How I Learned to Embrace Failure - Classy Career Girl

How I Learned to Embrace Failure Ever since Brene Brown took the stage and equated TED to being a  failure  conference, the idea of failing  seems to have become the new mantra in business and life. The sooner you can  fail and then course correct and try again the quicker youll get results and ultimately achieve success. How I Learned to Embrace Failure So whats the problem? How hard can it be to  fail? Really hard, actually. Especially if youve been someone whos accustomed to following the rules and meeting everyones expectations your entire life. If you got As in school and always did what the teachers said If you stayed in the same career, even though youve always daydreamed about doing something else If you diligently saved every last penny and rarely invested or indulged in anything for yourself That was me and in some ways Im still like this. By many measures, I achieved success because I followed the rules and colored between the lines do x, y, z and youll get a good grade, get the job, and have money for retirement, even though youre too nervous to spend it. By following the rules, I was successful  at everything  except  for  failure. Not surprisingly, the more I succeeded, the harder it was to let myself  fail. Failing  became something scary and unacceptable. And thats a problem. Because while there are obvious benefits to doing well in school, staying in one career, and diligently saving for a rainy day, the flip side is becoming stuck in a comfort zone, worrying too much about what other people think and being too fearful to take risks  risks that may be necessary for you to get to the next level. Its the dark side of success that no one told me about. But, just as Brene Brown and all the others who came before her have done (fellow experienced failures like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Oprah, Diane Nyad  to name a few!), I had to learn for myself that Failing  to  fail  is a  fail.    [Tweet that!] As hard as it is for me to not always color between the lines, I am starting to realize that doing so is much more funand a necessary step on the road to  true  success. Are there areas of your own life where you could use a little more  failure  and a little less success? Come share your challenges around success and failure in the comments below.