The first time I was asked this question was at Toastmasters a few years ago. It was the Table Topics question.

Table Topics, if you’re not familiar, is an opportunity to speak extemporaneously on a random subject for one to two minutes. And you get approximately that much time, possibly less, to compose your answer.

I think this is the kind of question that you could ponder for quite some time.

Still my answer at the time was there is nothing I wouldn’t attempt, if I really wanted to do it, whether failure was a possibility or not.

Every time I see this question, I do think about it and I arrive at the same conclusion. I would still do something I wanted to do even if I might fail.

Lloyd Jones said

The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.

And why is this?

Because with each “failure” you learn something that will make you better at whatever it is you are trying to attempt. And it may even make you a better person in general.

There are lots of quotes about failure with this perspective. Here are a few of my favorites:

There is no failure except in no longer trying.  ~Elbert Hubbard

Try again.  Fail again.  Fail better.  ~Samuel Beckett

There are defeats more triumphant than victories.  ~Michel de Montaigne

And my favorite

I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.  ~Thomas Edison

So I encourage you. If there is something you want to do, don’t even bring the idea of failure into your thought process. Just do it and do it to the best of your ability. If it doesn’t turn out the way you think it should,  look for the lesson inside the experience. The lesson is invaluable and is your prize for trying.

David has some shirts that say “Failure is not an option” on them. I agree with this but, I’m sure, in a whole different way.

Because failure is not an option. How can you fail when you learn from the experience and get up and try it again, better?

🙂