You Have To Fail To Succeed

A repost from my LinkedIn Page

Feel like you're failing lately? Then this one is for YOU. Here are some words I wish someone would have told me.

I've been learning a lot of hard lessons this year and having some hard realizations about life, relationships, and careers. A lot of days it's hard not to feel like you're failing, especially when you look around the room and compare trajectories. But that's the thing, comparing yourself to trajectories that aren't your own will never be fruitful or helpful.

What I'm working on is focusing less on feeling like I'm failing and focusing more on the fact that failing is part of trying. Someone wise once told me if you're not failing, you're not trying enough new things (heh heh, hiya Andrew Shotland). You'll never know how many failures are behind the promotion post your peer posts on LinkedIn, on the funding announcement your competitor makes, or the research celebration post your colleague makes. No one is posting their failures, but everyone is posting their wins. Remember those words next time you feel like you're failing. Everyone fails. It's normal. It's part of the process.

So what can we do, Tessa? These things: keep going, keep trying, and keep showing up. Come back tomorrow better than today. That's the stuff that will lead to future success.

Some things I've learned this year that now are helping me keep perspective:
-You're not failing between successes; you're learning, you're growing, you're adapting, and you're pivoting between successes.
-You can't win every day. Sometimes someone else is going to win.
-Come back tomorrow better than today.