The One Reason You’re Afraid Of Failure And How To Punch It In The Mouth

What my toothless mom can teach you about failure and success

My mom’s front tooth feel out before the wedding. She looked like a country bumpkin in a scene from the thriller, attack in the trailer park.

Or as my sister explained it, a redneck vampire.

She was horrified. Upset. She didn’t want to go. She was afraid of what others would think of her.

Mind you, my sister and I can never resist a good “tease.” A sign of love and friendship by the way.

Instead of looking forward to the family vacation, she was caught thinking about her tooth, or tooph as she would toothlessly pronounce it.

The one way of getting over fear is not to care what others think of you.

Be less worried about what others think or say about you.

So they think you’re a failure. That you’ll never succeed.

Does that matter? Not at all!

Does it hurt you in any way? Not a chance.

Does it stop you from trying? Not even a little.

In life put less weight on what people think of you.

Every misstep brings you closer to the perfect step.

Let’s go back to my toothless mom.

Instead of experiencing joy being around her family, she cared more about what strangers would think of her as being toothless.

I told her, who cares what they think. They can go f#!@ themselves. I love using strong language for a solid point.

Don’t like it? Click the back button.

I write for the joy of writing. To get my thoughts and lessons on “paper.” To teach a specific reader and me valuable lessons.

See how that works?

Failure is life. When you fail often, you’ll succeed.

To get your Ph.D. in success you must first get your MBA in failure.

I’ve failed a ton.

I hated public speaking. When I was going through my undergraduate degree, I had to take a speaking course.

I was terrified. Terrified to fail publicly, in front of my peers.

It was my final “speech” of the year, the grand finale. My palms were filled with my sweat entrenched pores.

It was my turn. I looked at my notes, got up from my desk. I was the man I told myself. Don’t be a b!$#%! I got this.

As I was walking up to the front of the class, I tripped. Damn you hallway backpack!

I stumbled and fell into the whiteboard…THUMP.

As I turned around, the class was laughing. 

So what did I do? 

I gave the best speech of the year. I aced it!

Why? Because at that point, I had nothing to lose. I was already at my low. So I just went for it.

The same applies to anything in life. What can really happen? What’s the worst case scenario?

So you fail. Try again. Make adjustments. Improve.

I’ve also lost millions of dollars. I hated to be on video.

Now, we’ve made millions of dollars, and I’m the “face” of multiple brands.

I punched failure and being uncomfortable right in the face.

Failure is okay, and you’re no less because of it.

Pick up your big girl and big boy shorts and move on. Learn from it.

Care less about what others think of you and know that in life you’ll fail. So what? Go live. Go do. Go be you.

Thanks for reading!