Permission to Fail

I’ve thought a lot about failure since I quit my last full-time job to try my hand at writing a book.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say, “I knew basically nothing then.” (Or at least that’s how it felt, and how it feels looking back.)

And yet, in those days of contemplation, when I was deciding whether I would take the leap, quit the job, and try to make a go at it, I told myself something that has turned out to be one of the wisest things I’ve ever told myself:

“You have permission fail. But you do not have permission not to try.”

I had no idea how to write a book. I didn’t know if I could do it. All I knew is that I’d always imagined that “one day” I would write a book. However, the deaths of too many people in my orbit—including some very sudden deaths—stood as a firm reminder that I had no idea how many days I had left. And I realized something important: I did not want to die wondering, “What if I’d tried?”

Giving yourself permission to fail is the first step toward a more courageous life, toward the rich, juicy, messy, often painful, often joyful life you want to live. (Trusting that you can get through that failure is a topic for another day.)

Whatever it is you want, today is the day to start. Now is the time. There is no courage without action, so to live a courageous life you need to start taking action.

And that means, one hundred percent guaranteed, that you need to be ready to fail.

So tell yourself this: You have permission to fail, but you do not have permission not to try.