Failure Happens

I know, I'll be the first to admit that I fear failure. In fact, I hate even thinking about failure. But, as anyone chasing after their dreams, whether it be a small business, blogging, traveling, or whatever your passion is, failure happens.

And, it's a necessary part of the process.

"QUOI?!" What? "Quel horreur!" The horror!

Let's keep it real folks. I'm not telling your that you are going to fail. But failure happens. And that's when you learn the most.

I distinctly remember the first time that I was at a cafe in Paris. I was freshly off the airplane, still jet lagged, feeling homesick, and around a bunch of strangers. I was vulnerable. I was weak. And I sure as heck didn't want to look like a fool.

I had a few Euros, but was still not too sure about the exchange rate. The typical Parisian cafe is NOT Starbucks. You order. Your order is brought to you. And then your bill. There's typically no physical menu (those that do are usually catering to tourists, and not necessarily a tourist trap), and you just order. So I took a cue from the girls that I was with. They were ordering cafe cremes (espresso with cream) and cafe (espresso straight up with a cube of sugar). I wasn't feeling so hot and just wanted water. But I also didn't want to look foolish/cheap and just ask for une carafe d'eau (a bottle of tap water). So I ordered what I thought was bottled water.

"Je voudrais un Vichy s'il vous plait."

Why I didn't just suck it up and order an Evian is beyond me. Maybe because I didn't want to look like a tourist who associated French water with Evian. I wanted to seem knowledgeable, so I ordered a Vichy. I could have just ordered a Coke too!

Note to readers: Vichy is a type of sparkling water. Which would be fine if I actually liked sparkling water.

So there I sat, in a Parisian cafe, with my overpriced drink, despising myself for ordering the wrong thing. Drink ordering: FAIL.

But that was a total lesson learned for 2 Euros and bubbly water. I figured out that day that I should have gone to the Monoprix (kind of like Target with food), and just bought bottled water sans gaz (without bubbles). Or, I should have just sucked it up and ordered the carafe d'eau, which I did every other time I was at a restaurant or at a cafe not ordering coffee.

Okay, I know, that's not something huge like a business failure. Or running out of money. Or sounding like a fool on the phone to a prospective client. Or screwing up an order and having to reassure your client you know what you are doing.

But failure is also a learning opportunity. Even the best business people weren't born with an innate sense of business. It's learned. Through trial and error. Through failures and successes. I heard the saying the other day that the definition of success is "Falling seven times and getting up eight." It makes sense right?

I think fear of failure is a normal thing. It starts from a young age, when we freak out about a test, and the potential of failure. Failure is constantly and consistently frowned upon from the time we start school through our professional lives with our managers. We are expected to succeed 101% of the time.

But all that success doesn't come without some stumbling here and there. It's not like you can press the "I want to succeed today" button and be done with it. Success comes with hard work, smart work, and lots of hustle.

It's not like your joie de vivre is going to be served up on a silver platter with a note that says, "Here you go, have a blast!" A real passion takes time to be discovered. It takes work. It takes endless nights of self introspection and asking yourself, "What lights a fire in my life?"

And it may take a couple of tries. It may take a couple of projects. Some may fail, but imagine what success could look like.

For someone like me, who has been paralyzed by the fear of failure, I'm taking a page from my dear friend, Lara Casey, "FEEL THE FEAR, and DO IT ANYWAY."

If you fail, you'll know what it looks like. You'll be able to know how not to do that again. You'll be able to know how to make it better. How to fix it. How to make progress.

Trust me, these are things I have to tell myself. All. the time. When I fail, I dust myself off, and figure it out. Try again. Do it again. Because I know that I'll be able to find a better solution. I will have learned from my mistakes to create something amazing.

Failure happens. It's okay to fail. Imagine all the lessons you can learn and become so much better for it.

Your joie de vivre will thank you for it.

Merci a tous,
Catie