Use the paint.
In the United States we are often obsessed with perfectionism. And catastrophize our failures. Luckily, failure does not result in the end of the world, and we can bounce back from setbacks if we can learn to accept failure with humility.
Don’t like the word, “failure.” Try on boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard’s quote in the image.
And the quote below from internationally recognized life coach Tony Robbins:
There are no failures. Only outcomes. As long as I’m learning, I’m succeeding.
Another reframe on fear: Be willing to experiment, a/k/a try stuff. At the heart of trying stuff is learning what works and what doesn’t. That is also the nature of innovation - taking the first step, and the next and then letting those first two steps inform the next four.
“Recognizing an act as an experiment releases it from a lot of seriousness, a lot of demands of perfection,” writes Kathleen Kralowic. “The outcome of experimentation is knowledge, and failure is just as valuable as success, because one has expanded one’s awareness of one’s own abilities, one’s deeper ideas, the potential of a media, a process, a genre, an art-form.”
In other words, did you play today?
It’s hard to freak about “failure” when you’re playing.