A prospective client once told me she was so afraid of failing that she was unwilling to try something new. The example she gave was driving in strange city for fear of getting lost. She wouldn’t do it.

But when it came time for us to meet, it was in a city with which she was unfamiliar. She was visiting and hence, quite apprehensive about driving to our meeting. But her fear was unwarranted because she was able to navigate from her hotel to our meeting place without any problems. When I found out about this, I quite sincerely congratulated her on her failure. “What a lovely fail!” I said.

In her response, she looked at me oddly, cockeyed and confused. “But I didn’t fail. I made it!” she cried.

“But isn’t that the irony? You did fail, because you were convinced you’d be lost. Had you been lost you would have achieved your vision. By making it, you failed–you failed to get lost.” It was a real eye-opening (though rather silly) conversation for her because she never thought that a failure could be a success.

Funny how the things we fear can sometimes be our greatest discoveries. 

Photo source here.