A young man 10 years my junior asked me: “How do you deal with failure? Do you ever feel like you’re close to failing?”
My mind started racing.
How do I deal with failure…
When was the last time I failed?
What did I do?
Wait…when was the last time I failed?
Actually…have I ever failed?
What is failure?
Mentally it felt like I had run a marathon.
Not that I’ve ever run one before.
But the young man only had to wait for a second. Or two.
“For as long as we live, we are on a journey.”
I wanted to stop there.
But with a young man staring at you like a puppy waiting for you to throw the ball…we all give in eventually.
Who blames him?
We all want answers.
We all want to do better.
We just lack the insight to use these answers well. Or the application. Or both.
“I never feel close to failing. I don’t know exactly how but I’ve learnt from a young age that nothing is permanent. This means success AND failure. As a result, I know that everything is a process, a never-ending journey for as long as we live.
The moment you truly understand that is the moment you will never be worried about “failing” anymore or about spending time on things that you don’t love or care about and instead try to enjoy and get better every single day.
This is also the reason that I never regret anything.
I enjoy the past. I enjoy the future. I love the present.”
“What a beautiful mind you have, Mister Jim.”
“It’s no different from yours.”
The young man left smiling.
Time will tell what happens with it.