Give Yourself Total Permission to Fail

“You want folks to like, respect, and even admire what you’ve created, but your self-worth is not on the table.  You know that you are far more than a painting, an innovative idea, an effective pitch, a good sermon, or a high Amazon.com ranking.  Yes it will be disappointing and difficult if your friends or colleagues don’t share your enthusiasm, or if things don’t go well, but this effort is about what you do, not who you are.  Regardless of the outcome, you’ve already dared greatly, and that’s totally aligned with your values with who you want to be.”  

-Brene Brown from Daring Greatly

You are not the same as the value of your ideas, and just in putting your ideas out there, you are daring greatly.  You are an inspiration.  You are living in line with your values no matter what the outcome.

How does this relate to being a yoga teacher?  Getting up in front of the room to share your heart is vulnerable.  Doing anything that is close to your heart is vulnerable!

However the pain of not doing it, will eventually outweigh the risk of doing it anyway.

This has been a motivation in my life.

I am growing fast and coming up with all kinds of ideas to spread my knowledge and help women overcome their fears, including this 6-month group program for women, but a few weeks ago, I realized my fear of failure was preventing me from even trying.

I want to have a career where I teach people to align their body, open their heart, face their fears, let themselves rest and love themselves first, but if I don't put the word out about my programs, services and offerings, just because of the fear of failing, I never give myself the chance to succeed.  

Through re-reading Daring Greatly, I saw that even if I fail, at least I was honoring my values of taking risks and facing my fears.  Just in doing that, I will be an inspiration.  And I will open the doors to my own success.

Let this be motivation for what you want to do or create.  Give yourself total permission to fail, because ultimately it's not about winning or losing, it's simply about being vulnerable enough to put yourself in the arena.