What a startling question.

Wow. If I couldn't fail. What a world that would be.

It seems like a pipedream. Something spoken at a self help seminar. Ether is the wind. Pixel dust. Nonsense.

But it's more real than you, or I, think.

You see, it's all about framing.

Let me explain.

If you try anything, failures are bound to happen. No matter what. You try, you risk failure. Doesn't matter the task and it doesn't matter your skill level. Everything shakes out under this fundamental law of the universe.

You might fail at the thing you are pursuing BUT if you can reframe it in a positive light, when you do this you actually didn't fail at all. Quite the opposite. You see, any experience, good or bad, shapes and defines your future.

The meaning you prescribe to these experiences builds up your mental model of the world. If these "failures" stack and you let them effect your future choices with fear and doubt, this can snowball into misery. However, if you really take the time to consider this "failure" and glean everything you can from it, it's now a ladder to a better future.

Did your business fail?

Did a role at a company not work out?

Did a project you were sure was going to work out great, fall flat on it's face?

Welcome to the club.

Now, it's up to you on how these things will effect the rest of your life.

You can use this as an excuse on why the world isn't fair and how it's person XYZs fault on why the thing didn't work out. If only this and that were different, surely things would have worked out. On and on you can play this game. The "should have, would have, could have" mambo. It can be cathartic and easy to do this dance. Reassurance that it wasn't something you did or something within your control. But this misses the mark. Ruminating on the past does nothing to change it. Focusing on external factors outside of your control will have no impact on your future. There will be no learning on this path. It's the losers game.

Instead, consider all of the ways this "negative" experience has impacted your life and what you might have learned from the experience. Nothing is all bad. There is always something to be gained from a negative experience no matter how much it pains our ego to concede to this.

For example, my startup didn't work out the way I wanted. I can view this period of my life as a waste of time and a total wash or I can really inspect it for what it was. It was a high paced, get things done, learn on the fly marathon of everyday building something new. This type of experience is so incredibly valuable that I don't think I could have achieved this level of learning any other way.

Upon years of reflection on my experience, I know what I could have done better and where a lot of my weak spots live. The post mortem on this actually took me a LONG time to digest. It's like PTSD and talking about these things feels bad. So I mulled this stuff over in my head and with the benefit of 2020 hindsight, I know where things went wrong and that's incredibly useful to future David.

If I didn't try and do what I did, I never would have learned the pieces I did. I'd still be on blank slate mode waiting at the gate for the starting pistol.

Over and over again, I've seen the advise, "Don't give up". It's so cliche and so true. Failures aren't a total wash. There is much to be salvaged and used in future endeavors. Lessons learned, things to avoid, skills to improve upon, ways to build, and an iterative philosophy on how things work.

Anywho, what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?