Wil Shipley recently wrote a
post titled
Failure is
Success. In this post he states that failure is something to be
strived for and that nature is full of examples where failure is critical to
success. An example he gives that resonated with me is that when weight-training
it's critical to push the muscles to failure; otherwise, they won't grow
stronger. For some reason, probably because I'm currently on a weight-training
program, that statement really hit home. I have no problem pushing my muscles to
their failure limit or pushing myself to my physical limits. As the saying goes,
"No pain, No gain!" However, when it comes to pushing myself to my intellectual
limits, I all too often stop short, presumably because of a fear of
failure. Realizing that failure can lead to growth, even in intellectual
pursuits, is a powerful concept. Perhaps the next time I reach my
intellectual failure point, instead of stopping short I'll accept the fact
that it's highly probably I'll fail and realize that that's ok and continue on.