Giving myself the permission to fail is the prerequisite to giving myself permission to succeed.

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

I am speaking about myself now when I say that I have failed to step up and show up on thousands of occasions in the past when it was totally within my capability, purely because of fear of failure. Or more accurately: the fear of other people perceiving failure or people “laughing at me” or attachment to my “reputation”.

 

So it felt safer to not fail or be seen to fail than to try.

 

Most of us are flying too low. Underestimating our own power, or contributing too little to the world compared to what we are capable of.

 

We tell ourselves that we are not good enough and “how dare I to think that I am good enough to write a blog or a book or publish a song, or start a company or call Bill Gates………”, it’s the “how dare I’, and we look at other “imposters” and think “how dare he”, “how dare she”……..

 

For me, it was when I realised that I am the boss. The boss of my own thoughts and actions. No one else is. That I started giving myself the permission to fail. The permission to be crappy. To be less than perfect.

 

When I said to myself: Maurice, I hereby give you permission to fail. To be crappy. And to allow others to laugh, it’s their business.

 

The whole sky suddenly opened up. I was able to show up. Step up. And I could really take off in every direction my heart desired, as long as I made sure it passed the ethical, effective and useful test.

 

I am curious, what would we be capable of beyond our imagination, if we could only give ourselves the permission to fail. Permission to look silly and permission to carry on without other people’s permission.