My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.
-Mahatma Gandhi

8 Signs that You are Not Failing Enough

Failure and success go hand-in-hand. Like most people, risking failure doesn’t come naturally to me. Yet it has never lead to regret. In fact, all significant accomplishments in my life have come from taking risks and often failing.

Here are the warning signs of a lack of failure:

1. Stability - This sounds great, and it is nice to enjoy peace and stability. But, it can be dangerous when it lulls us into stagnation. If nothing changes, nothing changes.
2. Comfort - Growth and change are difficult to achieve without leaving our comfort zone every once in a while.
3. Boredom.
4. Depression.
5. Discouragement - Ironically, failing to fail can be at least as discouraging as trying and failing.
6. Lack of Fear.
7. You are an expert at everything you do.
8. Everyone agrees with you.

Failure and Success in My Life

Leaving my career working with troubled youth to attend college was a huge risk leading to several years of near-poverty, debt accumulation, social deprivation and hard work but left me with some of my life’s greatest memories, a degree, work experience and life lessons that have lead to a life I hadn’t even imagined previously.

Several months ago, my wife and I left stable and well-paying jobs to work for ourselves. After a couple months of frugality, wondering if our mortgage was going to be paid and a few failed projects, we are now meeting our previous income level and are looking at continued growth with a flexible, enjoyable career.

Fear of failure is the most powerful obstacle to success and fuel for procrastination. Accept failure once in a while and a world of possibilities opens up to you.

This post is a part of a series on Overcoming Procrastination.

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