From my Sketchbook: To Fail or Not to Fail

INSPIRED BY…

Hey, we’ve all been there. You start a “project”…whether it’s large or small, personal or professional, seemingly simple or possibly complicated…and you’re all fired up. You can’t wait to get started. So you get underway and you’re rolling merrily along. You hit a few speed bumps along the way that slow you down a bit. But you keep on plugging.

Then you hit a couple of really big potholes. The impacts rattle your brain and jar your heart. Slows you down even more. Then you arrive at the bottom of a deep valley and you wonder how you’re ever going to climb that huge mountain you see in front of you.

That’s when you make a critical decision. Do you throw in the proverbial towel and quit? Or do you take a side road and keep moving forward?

Sure, you can decide the project is a lost cause. And quit. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. Or you can adjust your thinking, discover that side road and your solution.

The choice is yours. But here’s the thing: you are guaranteed to fail if you quit. But if you stay the course, maybe…just maybe, you will succeed. And maybe the end result of the project is not what you originally thought. And guess what? That’s okay.

Now, I’m not saying there will not be times when it is in your best interest to make the decision that it is a lost cause. That you are better off taking the hit and letting it go.

All I am saying is don’t let your frustration or doubt or lack of belief in yourself and/or the project rob you of the opportunity to succeed. Just because the road gets a little, or even a lot of, rough.

If you are passionate about the project, if you truly believe in it, if it’s something you need like the air that you breathe, and not just something you want or think it would be nice to have…then stay the course. Put in the time and effort to find your answer. Because if you quit you will fail.

Falls under the category of “Embrace Your Inner Einstein.”

~sharon