Don Roulo is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

By DON ROULO

I want you to fail. What did Don just say?! Before you stop reading and get angry with me – let me explain. Do I really want you to fail? Actually, yes I do, but it’s not what you think.

Having a sense of security is a good feeling, that’s why we seek it. We seek security in our relationships, finances and our careers. Spending time with the same people, going to the same places and doing the same things over and over brings a sense of security. However is security really our friend?

Here is a quote from Chris Gillebeau, “Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.”

Our country, and all it has to offer, was founded by adventurers and risk takers. People left their homes and families to start a new life and a new world. They didn’t know for sure what they were capable of accomplishing, but they were willing to step out of their secure life to find out. They not only risked failure, they experienced many failures. They kept trying again and again, until they succeeded.

There is a quirky TV show we watched when it was on – “The Red Green Show”. Red said it best when he said, ‘If it’s not broken, you’re not trying.’ What Red is saying is you can’t break something unless you are trying to make it better. You can leave things alone and have security, or you can try to make things better and possibly experience failure.

If you are meeting all your goals on time, your goals aren’t big enough. If everything you do works perfectly every time, you are not taking any risks. You need to be putting yourself in a position to fail every so often to test the boundaries of what you can ultimately achieve.

If you want something you have never had, you will have to do something you have never done – and it will require risk and even some failures. Remember, failure is an event, NOT a person. Though you experience failure – you are not a failure.

Maybe you need to start small before you take a big leap. That’s fine. You can start by driving to work a different way. Try a type of food you have never had before. Talk to a stranger in the line at the store. There is little or no risk doing these things, but they can stretch you just enough to start taking larger risks. Be adventurous!

How can you ever know what you are truly capable of doing unless you risk, but more importantly, experience failure? Does a high jumper leave the bar set at the same level for every jump because they know they can clear it? No. They keep moving the bar up until they fail. When they experience failure do they give up and quit? No. They try new things and find new ways to go even higher.

Like the high jumper, keep setting the bar higher until you actually fail. You can go much higher than you ever thought possible, but you have to keep setting the bar higher. Once you experience a failure, don’t quit. Find new ways and try new things to go even higher.

How can you raise the bar in your life today?

About the Author

Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.