Why Failing Big Is Your Window to Success

“I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan

Speaking to different people after my cruise talks about their dreams, many talked about the fears that were holding them back.

One popular fear that paralysed most was the fear of failure. It made me smile as I remembered a moment when I energetically nose dived, face first, into the ground, in front of a live audience... and how that energetic shift changed my life forever.

Before I travelled the world as an entertainer, I hosted karaoke shows. It taught me a lot about entertainment and as my onstage experience grew, I decided it was time to step outside of my comfort zone and enter a talent quest where we performed with a live band instead of using backing tracks.

This was heart racing-ly scary for me. I'd never worked with a live band before and it was just a little bit (ok... sweaty-palms, heart-pounding, I-think-I'm-going-to-throw-up) intimidating working with professional musicians.

Charts were organised for the band and two dancers rehearsed to perform while I sang. This was a really big deal and I was prepared!

It all started well. With my heart pounding in my chest, I was singing, the band was playing, and the girls were dancing. Everything was fine until...

... I instinctively looked down for a karaoke TV screen with the words on it AND IT WASN'T THERE!

I knew this song back to front. I knew all of the words, but because my subconscious was so used to the comfort of a TV screen with the words on it when I was at karaoke, when I looked down and my safety net wasn't there...

My mind went blank!

The band kept playing, the girls kept dancing, and here I was on stage, in front of a live audience, looking like a deer in headlights. I had no idea what to do, except to wish a big hole would appear and the ground would swallow me up!

Thankfully, the band leader took charge and wrapped up the band. I was SO embarrassed! All I wanted to do was crawl under a rock.

These are the moments your fear of failure is protecting you from.

These are also moments that catapult you onto the path of your dreams.

Do you want to still be living the life you're living right now for the rest of your life... or do you want to live a life full of adventure and dreams?

I didn't fail that night. I stood up to my fear and took action anyway... and that moment led to a career that took me around the world...

(And to think I could've still been living under that rock...)

I learned what I needed to do to move forward and I've never forgotten a lyric ever since...

And how many people remember that night? One. Me.

Take the pressure off yourself to be perfect. No one is perfect so why do you need to be?

Take a chance. Fail BIG! That's how you grow.

There's no escaping the fact that, yes...you will experience the Vulnerability Hangover for days afterwards. Get used to it. It's your system recalibrating to the new YOU.

Don't waste your life letting the fear of failure hold you back from achieving your dreams. The life you want is on the other side of your fears.

Take a chance on yourself. Allow yourself to make mistakes and be proud of the fact that you're giving life the best you've got.

Of course you're going to fail if you're not at the level you need to be to living your dreams... But that's the step to moving forward.

Every success and failure is a step in the right direction.

Play it safe or live your life. It's your call but I know that for me, a life that gets my heart pounding because I'm pushing my boundaries is one that makes me feel alive!

Kathryn xx