Throughout my life, I’ve struggled with failure. Not as a consistent result of my decisions or actions, but as a concept. I hate the idea of failing – and will do pretty much anything to avoid it.
In my professional life, I’ve definitely failed more than a few times. Shipped a customer’s order incorrectly by mistake? Yep, been there. Made a decision without my boss’s approval – and it blew up? Yep, that has happened. Missed a deadline? Yep. And ouch.
Failing is embarrassing. Failing is scary. Failing is painful.
Why does the title of this article lead you to believe that I actually love it, then? In doing my damndest not to fail, I’ve caught myself hiding from projects, ideas, and moments that could have been truly great. And in realizing this, I knew that my perspective needed to change.
So, what do I love most about failure?

• The presented challenge that now needs fixing.
• The opportunity to not make the same mistake again.
• The grounding realization that I’m human.

Finding the love in something I hate takes thought and a willingness to be uncomfortable. Not uncomfortable forever, but for as long as it takes to get my butt in gear. I haven’t overcome the fear of failure, but I have overcome individual failures, one at a time.
Failure gets in my way, but it gets in my way less because of this perspective shift. What do you love most about failure? I challenge you: pick your most recent failure. Find at least one reason to love it – and see what you can do because of it.
photo credit: © Romolo Tavani/Dollar Photo Club

Who in their right mind loves failure? This gal – but she has good reason to. How do you work to overcome your own fear of failure? Comment below or share with Jennifer directly!