Failure vs Regret

Are you scared of failure?

Would you let the chance of failure put you off of trying something?

For years, that was me, if I’m honest sometimes I still have to remind myself that ‘failure’ is not the thing to be feared. Instead I choose to fear regret.

I remember listening to a podcast with stories from terminally ill people reflecting on their lives and things that they had wished they had known sooner. A common theme was that they only regretted the opportunities that they didn’t take.

This hit hard for me.

On my death bed, I want my life to be full of stories and tales. I dont want to be full of regret about the things I didn’t do because I was too scared to try.

So the way I see it, I might try to do something and fail. It might make me feel bad for a while, I might be angry with myself, perhaps be embarrassed and say that I am never going to do it again OR perhaps I reflect and see that it provided me with a learning opportunity and a chance to develop / grow. Now granted, there might be a bit of sulking and wound licking before getting to the point of acknowledgement and persistence… but the point is moving on is what creates the change.

There are often bumps in the road and if it takes time to perfect something. For me one of the most current examples of this is being able to do a pull up. I have ALWAYS wanted to do one, I suppose its been a life-long goal. I’m fairly strong, and yet I have never been able to do a pull up!

Its taken a long time of slow and consistent training… but finally I can now pull myself up!! The feeling of achievement is amazing. I have no doubt that I would’ve felt good if I had always been able to do them, but the value and true sense of pride comes from seeing my own journey and knowing how far I have come from my starting point.

Failure is temporary, you can learn, reflect, change and try again.

Regret is permanent.

So when you are next thinking of a situation where the idea of ‘failure’ scares you, ask yourself if regret would be more frightening. Would you rather fail or regret not trying?