Thursday Thoughts: Practicing Failure

Two of my favorite hobbies are fishing and golf. I was thinking about them this week, and I realized the most frequent thing they’ve taught me is how to fail… A LOT.

When I fish, I cast far more times than I reel in a catch (that’s why they call it fishing and not catching). Most casts end with nothing. Some with a snag. But every now and then, one produces a fish worth talking about.

Golf isn’t much different for me. I certainly hit enough balls each round to get “good value” for my green fees. In fact, I usually get at least 20 strokes more value than someone who shoots par. Some shots slice into the woods, others dribble a few feet off the tee, and occasionally one finds the fairway. Something kind of nice is that I’m not good enough to get overly angry at each miss. Sure, I get a little frustrated, but it never keeps me from wanting to play again.

So why do I treat failure in golf or fishing as part of the game, but get discouraged when failure shows up in other parts of life?

I think back to my early career in sales. For every “yes,” I heard dozens of “not yet,” “no,” or “let me think about it.” There were days I loved the chase, but also plenty of days where the rejection wore me down. I treated those no’s like final verdicts instead of just part of the process.

But when I’m fishing and the fish aren’t biting, I don’t pack it up and go home after the first empty cast. I change lures, switch bait, or move spots and try again. When I shank a golf ball into the woods, I don’t walk off the course. I look at my stance, try a different club, or shrug my shoulders and prepare to donate another ball to the trees.

Why don’t we take that same attitude with more areas of life? What if we accepted failure as practice instead of proof that we don’t measure up?

We need to reframe our thinking to see every “miss” as part of the learning process. Every wrong swing or bad cast carries information if we’re willing to pay attention. And the more we practice failing, the more comfortable we become with trying again, and the closer we get to breakthrough moments.

Imagine how much more we could accomplish if we let failure roll off a little easier. If we weren’t quite so hard on ourselves. If we stopped treating failure as something to fear and started treating it as something to practice.

That Leads Me to This Week’s Challenge…

Think about an area in your life where fear of failure has been holding you back. What would happen if you approached it like golf or fishing? Cast again. Swing again. Adjust. Shrug off the miss. And keep going.

If the fear were gone, how far could you go?

I’m thankful you took the time to read this, for choosing to work, and for being part of what makes this world amazing.