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"Don't Try, Can't Fail"…But Nor Will You Succeed

March 12, 2009 by Amy Harrison 2 Comments

Are your toes still behind the starting line?I once knew someone whose motto was to never put himself forward for anything. He would half complete courses but never take the exam, his belief being that if they never took a test he could never “fail” at anything. He admitted his motto was “Don’t Try, Can’t Fail.”

It’s an interesting philosophy and whilst he may have saved himself the occasional embarrassment of failure, you often have to tussle with setbacks to reach the prize of success.

His philosophy came to mind as I attended two excellent events last Tuesday. The Women Unlimited Start up Meet-up – a networking event for women who have recently or are thinking about starting up their own business, and an Inspiring Speakers event at the British Library  “Mothers of Invention with Liz Jackson, Laura Tenison, Gurinder Chadha and Dee Wright

For me the two events presented a perfect snapshot of women poised with toes on the starting line, trying to gauge the track ahead, and the evening’s speakers who were stomping ahead in the race – but not without a grazed knee from a stumble or two.

There will be women from that evening who will remain behind the starting line as their inspiration from the evening wanes and the obstacles seem insurmountable, especially when success cannot be guaranteed. From the questions in the audience, there was a sense of seeking reassurance. Many asked about how to overcome the obstacles the women had faced, how they motivated themselves every day, what were their first steps.

The evening’s speakers were definitely not from the “Don’t Try Can’t fail” school of philosophers. They were of the “Go out there and do…and figure it out as you go.” They took the risk and laid their dreams bare; taunting failure as they dared it to stop them.

With regards to motivation, Liz Jackson, who went completely blind three months into launching her business said she started every morning by counting all the things she was thankful for including: “my very attractive husband…or so he tells me” she quipped.

Liz Jackson SpeakingLiz also mentioned that people in the UK are very lucky and if you have a roof above your head, warm clothes and food in your belly, then you are already in the top few percent of the most successful people in the world and we are “successful by birthright” with more responsibility to make something of ourselves.

The evening made me think about taking more risks, expanding faster and being a bit more daring. I’m over the starting line and now it’s time to turn that amble into a jog.

What’s keeping you from stepping over the starting line? What resources or inspiration have you used to make you take the plunge and follow your dream?

Keep believing.

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Filed Under: Business Blogging Tagged With: business, creativity, fear, freelance, networking, online business, persistence, quitting job, Self Confidence, self employed, self help, women, women in business

About Amy Harrison

I am a copywriter, content-trainer, speaker and filmmaker teaching businesses how to avoid drab business content and write copy customers love to read. You can also find me hanging out and sharing content over on Google+.

Comments

  1. Helga van Leipsig says

    March 7, 2012 at 11:12 pm

    Today I listed to the interview that Mark McGuiness did with you for the Roadmap. Really enjoyed it! Curious I checked your twitter and saw this post. And now you got me “thinking about taking more risks, expanding faster and being a bit more daring.”
    You could say serendipity can teach you a lot!
    Thank you Amy 🙂

    Reply
    • harrisonamy says

      March 8, 2012 at 3:17 am

      Hi Helga! Thanks for taking the time to pop a comment down – I appreciate it! I sometimes find that wandering in and around the interweb I pick up messages that I feel like I just needed to hear at that particular moment – funny how it works like that sometimes. Serendipity indeed 🙂

      Reply

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