How Do I Get 1% Better Today?
The answer – Be More Like A Baby.
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy
Do you remember when you started walking? I don’t either. But I imagine it went something like this. I laid around for about as long as my body could stand it and decided that I didn’t want to be on my back any longer. So I wiggled a bit, struggled for a while and eventually threw myself onto my stomach. Someone came along and turned me back over and I was like, come on man, I just got this figured out so I did it again and again till one day they wouldnt leave me on my stomach so I said, I am out of here.
I started pushing up and trying to get away from the turnover monster. I really struggled to crawl, it was really hard but I just kept trying while my parents watched and encouraged me to keep crawling even through the falling and failing. Then my knees got pretty sore so I decided to take this action to my two feet. I figured I could move faster and get into more stuff if I could get upright but this was the fight of my life. Boy this was hard. I would pull up on something and fall. My parents and their friends would just praise me for standing and trying.
This went on and on for a while. Then I got brave and tried to take off, well they were waiting for me just a few steps away and ready to sing my praises just for trying to take a step. I fell many times. They would help me up and I would fall. Over and over it went while they smiled the entire time at my failing and trying. Then finally it happened, I would walk. At first I was slow and they would catch me. So I decided I better be able to pick the pace up if I am going to be able to break something and get away, so I started to run. It was a real struggle and I fell a lot and bumped my head many times. But with much praise from the old folks and many failed attempts, I learned to run.
What a process! Why can’t we be more like a baby in all we do. Try more things, fail often, try again, repeat, succeed without being judged along the way. Maybe even be encouraged through our failures because that’s the only way to learn and grow, like a baby. What did you fail at today? This was the question Sara Blakely (the founder of Spanx) was asked every evening at the dinner table by her dad. If she did not have an answer he was truly disappointed. No wonder she has become one of the most successful entrepreneurs on earth. There was no fear of failure. She had the freedom to act like a baby, lol. Let’s gooooooooo!
John Perry