This is what failure really looks like
Are we heading for another recession?
I guess it’s possible.
I don’t think it’s going to happen for two big reasons, but let’s look at what a recession would mean for you, just in case.
If you cut capacity, cut back on marketing, lay off your best people and retreat into a shell like a box turtle, you might be able to ride out the storm.
But you have the same odds if you innovate and adapt, build new partnerships, and discover creative ways to stay afloat when your competitors are shrinking and running for cover.
Fortunes are made when there is blood in the streets.
Recessions call for courage.
We all know this, but it’s hard to keep walking your path when fear commands you to turn back.
Believe me, I know it’s hard. In the last recession, I chickened out. I closed up shop and became a science teacher for a few years.
The other day I took a walk in the forest to think about this problem.
The worst-Case Scenario
Why is it that so many people, myself included, let irrational emotions stop us from living our best life?
Fear of failure is the invisible hand that constantly pushes back against growth and progress. Why do we allow it to do this to us?
Out there in the woods, I saw what this fear really is. I encountered the face of failure.
A redwood tree had fallen, maybe hundreds of years ago.
Before that, it had lived maybe a thousand years or more.
Then it came crashing down, like a broken dream, shattering branches and crushing other trees and plants in its way.
The ultimate disaster. The ultimate failure. The End.
But what do your failures really look like, when your best plans fall in a noisy and destructive mess?
That tree is now covered in moss and sorrel. Ferns and mushrooms grow out of its top.
It is now a “nurse log,” with a new western hemlock tree rising 20 feet from the decomposing wood.
Inside this dead tree are insects, mycelia, dens and burrows for small animals, and hundreds of gallons of stored water.
They say a “dead” tree contains more than twice as many living cells as a live one.
The catastrophic crash led to new life, new growth, in rich and exciting ways nobody could have imagined.
Keep this in mind when you’re facing fear. What is the worst that could happen?
The biggest loss or failure is the start of many new opportunities and beginnings.
The best thing you can do is move forward with your most inspiring plans. If you fail, you will only give birth to new plans that you never would have dreamed about.
This is twice as true if there’s recession in the next year or so. But let’s look at what’s really happening now.
Consumers can’t get enough of the goods and services they want to buy.
Companies can’t hire enough employees.
We’re facing shortages of many things, but there’s no shortage of customers.
As we start to fix the supply chain issues, it’s going to be like a bursting dam, with new spending, new growth, new deals being made all around the globe…
Kind of the opposite of a recession.
So, keep your chin up. Don’t be afraid of failure.
When everything seems to be crashing down all around you…
It means this is your time to do something awesome.
