Our nature is to hide our failure, but we can’t forget that failure is in our nature.
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He woke up at the same time every morning.
When the alarm clock rang, he reached across his chest and slapped it off, just like normal. He rolled over, sat up on the side of his bed, and took a couple deep breaths, just like normal. In the dark, he dressed himself in his a suit as tired as he was. He kissed his wife, told her he’d be home in time for dinner unless the boss kept him late, then slipped out the front door. Just like normal.
But he didn’t go to work.
The boss wouldn’t keep him late today. In fact, the suited salesman hadn’t been kept late at work for weeks. His wife didn’t know, and he’d never tell his kids. You see, he didn’t go to work because he didn’t have any work to go to.
Like the salesman, our nature is to hide our failure.
I read the story of the salesman while I was in high school, but it didn’t impact me until very recently when I began to fail on a couple business projects for my clients.
The weight I’m feeling now must be what the salesman felt.
When I think of that salesman, I think about his suit. It’s symbolic to me, because I love wearing suits. They make me feel more confident. Sometimes I notice myself walking differently and standing differently when I’m in a suit.
When you fail, don’t act like you didn’t. Instead, act like you did.
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But for as much as I love wearing a suit, there’s something I love more: taking that suit off.
To the tired salesman in the story, his suit represented something different than confidence. For him, the suit was a mask.
Our nature is to hide our failure, but we can’t forget that failure is in our nature.
Failure can be easy to accomplish but not so easy to swallow.
It’s not fun to fail. Failure is embarrassing at the least, threatening at the worst.
But failure is our baseline. Accept that reality, and failure will begin to feel less like rock bottom and more like a launchpad set up for success.
When you fail, don’t act like you didn’t. Instead, act like you did. Wear it, and wear it proudly. The other option is the salesman’s suit.
That suit will tire you out.
Photo: Flickr/Anthony Kentuck