All too often you’ll hear someone ask you “what you would do if you knew you couldn’t fail”.
Maybe it was a motivational seminar you were attending or maybe it was just a close friend over a cocktail. Thy asked you that question knowing that it would stop and make you think — hoping that the answer would fill you with courage and inspiration.
It’s meant to have you question your limitation. To muster the will to keep fighting.
But the question is misguided. It doesn’t go far enough.
The question shouldn’t be what you would do if you knew you couldn’t fail but rather “what are you so passionate about that you would do it knowing that you will likely fail”.
What is worth it for you that much? What means so much to you that you would continue to try knowing that you will most probably fail?
That’s measure of inspiration. That’s when you know that you’re unstoppable.
When you do what you’re doing knowing that ultimately you’re going to fail. In spite of your wits and your charm and your efforts. Despite your blood, sweat, and tears, you will not become a winner. You will not achieve the success that you so desperately want. To continue on knowing this is the measure of a man possessed. The measure of a man on fire.
The hard truth is that you’re destined for failure right now. That’s the reality you may not want to face.
You’re going to be a failure until you’re not.
You’re going to lose and keep losing until you stop losing. That’s not fluff. That’s not frills. That’s the truth.
If you’re going to be successful, you have to do what you’re doing knowing you’re likely going to fail more than a few times. You’re going to have to work knowing that your failure isn’t just possible, it’s probably.
You have to work like a man possessed. Work knowing that failure is all you will achieve until you change that. Most of the time, it’s not what you’re willing to do that will make you successful. It is what you’re willing to do without until you get there.
You will have to do without enough sleep. You will have to do without enough money or fame or a pat on the back.
You might have to spend more days losing then winning.
But it is those days of losing and wanting something more for yourself that ultimately change the course of your history. It’s the bitter taste in your mouth that makes you long for sweetness. It’s the pity and fear and pain you feel the drives you to keep fighting for something better.
We’re all failures until we’re not. You have to want to change what you are in order to change what you become.
That’s the truth about success. You gotta want it. Really bad.
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