5 Ways to Practice Giving Yourself More Freedom to Fail
Are you hard on yourself? Do you feel paralyzed, unable to try something because you are afraid of failure?
Me too.
In my last post, I talked about why it’s important to give yourself and others the freedom to fail. In this post, I want to share a few things that I’ve started to do that help me get into the habit of giving myself that freedom. If you’re not used to doing this it’s going to be really uncomfortable at first--but, remember, practice makes perfect, my friend. Choose one of the practices I suggest below to work on this week, and then post about it on your social media outlet of choice (when we give ourselves the freedom to fail, we give permission to those around us to do the same).
Do something you’ve never done before.
Paint a picture, try a new sport, travel to a new country, buy a board game you’ve never tried and invite some friends over to play, or start writing a blog (that last one is for me).
When we try something we’ve never done before we open ourselves up to fail. There is an uncertainty of whether or not we will succeed. By putting ourselves in a situation where we may fail we get more comfortable with the idea of failure and it loses its power over us.
2. When you fail; be grateful and share about it.
The next time you make a small mistake, pause, be grateful for your humanity and that you don’t have to be perfect and then take a picture and send it to someone. I try to do this because it helps me not take myself so seriously, and usually makes me laugh about what just happened. Also, by practicing this in the small things, it makes it a lot easier when we have bigger disappointments.
This picture is an example of a picture I sent to my husband just a few weeks ago after breaking a glass.
3. Spend time with a toddler and be attentive to how they deal with failure.
Toddlers are experts at trying things over and over again. They are learning so much at their young age; yet they are truly masters of none They face failure over and over again but they keep trying.
If you have a toddler, just be more attentive to how they deal with failure. If you don’t, spend time with a family who does. Offer to babysit, or go over and play with the toddler while mom or dad makes dinner or sits and has a HOT coffee (bonus for the parent(s) too!).
4. Meet up with someone you consider successful and ask them about how they deal with failure in their life.
Everybody fails, successful people are not excluded. I find it super helpful to be reminded that even the people I have on a pedestal make mistakes too. They also might have some really helpful advice on how to deal with failure.
5. Root yourself in the truth
Pick one of these verses below and look at it every day. Write it on a post-it note and stick it on your mirror, make it your lock screen or have it come up as a reminder each day.
Rooting ourselves in truth is vital to our growth. This visible daily reminder of what is true will prime you for those moments when you have to choose to give yourself the freedom to fail.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18
With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can man do to me? Psalm 118:6
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day Matthew 6:34
I hope these ideas will give you some inspiration on how you can make more space in your own life to learn and grow. If you choose to take one up, I’d love to hear about your experience. Write in the comments below or send me a message on Instagram or Facebook. I need the encouragement too!
As a bonus, post about your experience on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and use the hashtags "#freedomtofail #thegoodsoil
Let’s start a culture where we give ourselves the freedom to fail, to learn, and to grow, and one where we give the people around us permission to do the same.