Babies learn to walk by giving it a go and falling over. The first thing they do after they stand up to walk is fall over and fail. Lots!
And when a baby tries to walk for the first time, the one thing we never hear parents say is,
“Well that was rubbish. You are really no good at walking. Walking is not something you can do. You’re not gifted in that way. Just sit down and do something else instead!”
We don’t admonish babies for getting up and trying walking. We don’t tell them it’s not for them when they fall over. We get excited about what could happen if they keep trying. We encourage them and we smile and cheer them on willing them to take just one more step, to try one more time, knowing that eventually, almost inevitably they will take two steps, then three then wobble from one leg to the other until they walk.
We don’t belittle them, admonish them and laugh at them for their failure. We see beyond their failure to the success that will come.
Why don’t we treat other attempts and failures the same? Why don’t we cheer people on instead of putting them down? Why don’t we encourage instead of admonish? Why don’t we get excited about what could happen? Excited about their inevitable success?
How much better would life be if we treated all attempts at something new the same way we do a baby’s first steps?
And you know what? I can walk brilliantly now. I’m world class at it. I can do it without even thinking.
What if we had the same approach to everything in life? How much more could people achieve?