I hate screwing up. In fact, I go to great and exhausting lengths to make sure that I don’t. If I do, I don’t want you to know about it. I wonder if that is true for you too?!? The problem is that if we put work out in the world today, more people than ever before can see it, engage it…and judge it. It’s terrifying. But it comes with the territory. It’s leadership.
Here are 20 ways that we imagine failure:
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Humiliated
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Embarrassed
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Expelled
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Defunded
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Typos found
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Defeated
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Fired
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Called out
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Unappreciated
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Late
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Found out
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Mocked
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Outclassed
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Criticized
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Out of cash
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In debt
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Underdressed
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Out of tune
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Out of your league
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Unprepared
We all fear failure. But that doesn’t mean we get to quit. It just means we get to be generous with each other…because we are all vulnerable and courageous, usually at the same time. If you fall short of your goals, forgive yourself just as you forgive others. It’s the only way to stay in the creative game and the only way to make a real difference.
Forgive Yourself by Audrey Kitching
Forgive yourself for not knowing better at the time.
Forgive yourself for giving away your power.
Forgive yourself for past behaviors.
Forgive yourself for the survival patterns and traits you picked up while enduring trauma.
Forgive yourself for being who you needed to be.
– Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight
