Fear of Failure

Mate,

You love this one, don’t you? The pre-emptive strike.
You roll out the highlight reel of every stumble, every awkward silence, every plan that fizzled — just to stop me before I even start. Clever move. Paralysis disguised as protection.

I get it. You’re trying to keep me safe. You think if I never try, I’ll never fail. But here’s the flaw in your plan: staying still is its own kind of failure. The quiet, slow one that eats at you from the inside.

Let’s be clear. Failure isn’t fatal. It’s data. Every crash, every missed mark, every “well-that-didn’t-work” moment is information. It’s how I learn where the edges are. You don’t learn to steer by staring at the harbour.

Your job isn’t to stop me from failing — it’s to help me fail better. Remind me to check the rigging, sure, but don’t chain me to the dock. Because the cost of safety is stagnation, and I’m not paying that anymore.

So next time you whisper, “What if it doesn’t work?” I’ll say, Then I’ll adjust course and go again.

Now sit down, tighten the ropes, and let’s get moving.

— Me