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What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
‘Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street’ – Zig Ziglar
Failure is defined as “the lack of success, non-fulfilment or omission”.
We are trained to avoid failure from an early age. Traditional education rewards us for giving the ‘right’ answer. Society rewards those who succeed – and we often don’t see the many failures upon which ‘success’ is built.
Add to this external pressure, layers of subconscious programming. The part of the brain called the amygdala has evolved over Millenia to protect you and stops you doing anything it perceives as dangerous, even if that is simply stepping outside your comfort zone.
As a result, we avoid trying things we might fail at and stay ‘safe’ in our comfort zone where our success is guaranteed.
By suspending this sometimes over zealous protection mechanism for a moment and asking “what would I do if we knew we could not fail”, you can find valuable clues.
The best use of your creative superpower often lies beyond your comfort zone.
The amygdala’s fear of failure keeps us from trying new things, but if you want something you have never had, you have to do something you have never done.
For a moment, step into the unknown and imagine what is possible if failure was not an option.
