Fail more, coward 🖤
Dedicated to Weird Writer and her black heart,
who knew better than to hesitate.
Are you the person you’ve always wanted to be?
If not, do you know how to change?
If you don’t, are you unsure how to learn?
My favorite secret I ever learned is that you don’t actually need to know how to improve to improve. You can instead fail faster. The world is complicated. There are more correct answers in books and blog posts than you could ever hope to learn. Failure teaches you the relevant questions you must answer to improve.
Failure is cringe, and understandably avoided. However, the extent to which most of us avoid failure has more to do with pride and loss aversion than a rational weighing of pros and cons. It is childish to believe that successful people literally only succeed. Why do you think yourself too good for failure? Do you think any intelligent adult will believe you if you pretend you never fail? Hesitation upholds your competency kayfabe at the cost of making you less competent. Are your favorite stories about perfect heroes who never lose? Do you admire people who win, or do you admire people who try?
It is good to fuck up one evening in exchange for knowledge that will pay dividends for the rest of your life. It is good to risk an awkward silence for the chance at a story you’ll remember forever. Comfort is atrophy. Time is killing you. Why are you so focused on today’s pleasure, today’s pain? Don’t you realize how quickly today will leave you?
You have to try to be the person you’ve always wanted to be before you are ready. It is not possible to live a fulfilling life absent profound, terrifying risk. And that’s good! Addict yourself to that intoxicating tension, that thrilling risk! When the odds are against you, roll as many times as you can. One day you will get lucky, and on that day your failures will not be top of mind.