FAIL HARDER THAN OTHER PEOPLE SUCCEED

I continue to write about failing because, quite frankly, too many people write about succeeding to the point that people are only good at the latter and not the former.  And no, this isn’t about practicing how to fail a squat or something inane like that.  Christ, you people asking for that information have to be even more oafish than me, because let me tell you, as a dude that has failed a few lifts in his day, your body will figure that sh*t out QUICK when the time comes.  No practice necessary.  No: I’m discussing failing in your PURSUIT of success, and how to do that well.  Specifically, how to fail HARD, and, in turn, BETTER, than other people.  Because if you get to the point where you learn how to fail hard, you’ll get to the point where you can actually fail harder than other people succeed, and this, in turn, will put you in a better position to succeed than those who wish to minimize their failures.

If the internet had it's way, we'd still be using Wright Brothers' planes rather than risk failed rocket launches

Already those of you familiar with my educational background are most likely thinking that my lack of STEM degree is starting to show through.  Why would failing MORE better set you up for success than failing less?  Shouldn’t failing less mean you don’t stray as far from success, and can more easily course correct compared to when you fail hard and go completely off the rails?  THIS is the exact kind of foolish thinking that prevents people from REALLY succeeding: this absolute and utter fear of failure that one will only permit themselves to experience the very SLIGHTEST failure before reverting back to “success”.  And I put success in quotes because, quite frankly, most peoples’ definition of success is pitiful, paltry, and, quite frankly, embarrassing.

Why were we failing in the first place?  Because we were trying something new.  Why were we trying something new?  Because what we were doing before WASN’T working!  We’d have no reason to risk failure if we were already satisfied with the results we were getting before.  So then why are we in such a rush to get right back to what clearly WASN’T working?  Failing just a little bit and then returning back to what we were doing before is simply failing TWICE: we did something that wasn’t working, and then returned right back to something that wasn’t working.  Thus, it stands to reason that, instead of failing a small amount, one must endeavor to fail a MASSIVE amount.  Why?  Because failing by a massive amount means one took a massive detour from an already failing method.  We are FINALLY off course enough for it to matter.

And you can make all sorts of friends once you get there

Because once we are that far off course, we can now develop some momentum on our way back to success.  In much the same way that one must have enough clearance to build up speed in order to generate maximal distance on a running leap, one must fail so catastrophically hard in their efforts that they have enough distance between them and success to take a massive running start and generate maximal distance.  You won’t accomplish this with only a 1 week experiment with mega high volume or mega dosing protein or training 2 a days: this is the kind of failure you can only experience after months of pounding your head against a wall.  After absolutely running your body into the ground.  After ignoring all the warning signs for MONTHS, actively feeling yourself getting weaker, slower, broken, and saying “nope: I’m gonna ride this out and see where it takes me.”

You have to bomb yourself back to the Stone Age!  Because only with a clean slate can we begin to truly rebuild: to be reborn!  When there are too many remnants of the old guard remaining, it affects your paradigm.  When you still allow yourself to see the shoreline on your expedition, you never truly reach “uncharted waters”, but when there’s nothing left of the old world to refer to, you have to start making everything up again from the beginning.  And it’s HERE that true learning, true discovery and, finally, true GROWTH occurs.  Without such a catastrophic failure, there’s no opportunity to forget everything you “knew” and start learning new things.  You’re going to hit rock bottom so hard and fast that you BOUNCE.

Almost there!

The United State was suffering the Great Depression when it bounced back and became the number 1 superpower, and, coincidentally, when it did that, it also attacked Japan with nuclear weapons, erased everything, and THEY bounced back and became an economic superpower.  History is abound of such examples.  Is this survivor bias?  Absolutely: so go be a survivor!  Because how hard you fail AND how hard you survive are both entirely dependent on you, and when you choose to do both to the best of your ability, you gain the best benefits you can from the experience. 

And that’s to say nothing of the benefits you get when you TRY to break yourself and fail in that.  When you fail at trying to fail, you end up succeeding!  Wrap your brain around that one.  When you set out and say “I’m going to push myself to the point that my body collapses and my growth reverses”, you end up having to push harder and harder, growing stronger and stronger through the process as you continue to survive, adapt and overcome.  You find where your REAL limits are and learn that you are capable of SO much more than you give yourself credit for. 

Being a lunatic goes a long way

In truth, about the only way you can really fail is by not failing hard enough.   If you fail super hard, you set up a new baseline and can finally start growing again.  If you screw UP failing, you end up accidentally succeeding, and you end up having to bypass the whole “starting from zero” aspect.  But if you just dip your toes in the waters of failure, you waste all of your time and effort and then, ONLY then, have you actually failed. 

So go fail, and fail hard.