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OPBs and Failure

one-person business

We get to define what failure is.

Although the feelings that often tag along with failure suck, there is always something of value tucked inside the perceived fail just waiting for us to notice it.

Recently, I bailed on filming a video I knew would be of value to my clients. I couldn't for the life of me wrap my head around it. Having started and stopped over what felt like a thousand times I gave up, referring my clients to someone else's video on the same topic.

It then became a matter of figuring out why I couldn't "wrap my head around it." When I can't wrap my head around something, get my hands around it, my mind into it, it's usually because there's some level of vulnerability attached to it - in this case social and emotional.

Now I'm the first to admit I'm a work in progress, but I do know where there's vulnerability, there's usually a fear of something. This was the case with this video I attempted to shoot. Was it the material? Was it the thought of others watching it and judging the way I looked or the way I sounded or the content itself? Yes. Yes, it was. All of it.

The lesson here is how do we as OPBs work through the moments when we feel vulnerable and fearful? How do we keep moving forward?

Failure is rarely easy, but we do get to define it for ourselves. When we experience what we perceive to be a failure we feel like giving up. But if we pause and listen, there's a little tiny voice saying, "It'll be fine." And we plow ahead with the understanding that the experience is a stepping stone to...well...to wherever it is we decide we want to step.

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