How I Deal With Failure and Rejection · Government Contracting School

How I Deal With Failure and Rejection

I used to pride myself on being one of those people who had never failed at anything. Flawless flight training record, every marathon I ran was faster than the last, and my business made more money every year compared to the last.

It felt good, and I walked around with a certain boisterous swagger.

Then I fucked up and made a dumb decision to land on the edge of a sketchy weather system and had to resign from my first ever flying job, took a gamble to work with a marketing company to grow the business and the youtube channel and I lost $40k, and to top it all off, I flew my employees to the other side of the world to run a marathon with me and I ran my 2nd slowest marathon to date, only after running the most mileage and becoming the fittest I’d ever been. All within 6 months of each other.

So yeah, it was pretty shitty from the outside looking in, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t embarrassed, ashamed, and for the first time in my 23 years of life: genuinely, just unsure of what my next move was. Financially, I was still recovering. Flying-wise wise I was way behind on the number of hours I should’ve had by then. Fitness-wise? Forget it, I damn near almost quit running for the 2nd time in 12 months.

However, it dawned on me when my editor was explaining to his girlfriend why he was in Australia and what crazy son of a gun convinced him to go out there. She had a “what the fuck” moment when she realized that all of the exploits he was describing were done by the same young, dumb, 23-year-old kid. It was in that moment, I realized I had encountered so much failure at this point in my life because it was the first time I was pursuing things that scared me and were not a guarantee. I couldn’t go to bed at night knowing that I’d achieve all my goals for the year, and that was a good thing.

See, failure is a barometer of success. If you only ever did things you know you’d be good at, you’d be in the same spot year over year, decade after decade, and your last name would carry no more and no less weight than what it currently does sitting on the edge of your driver's license. It’s the man in the arena, you have to dare to do the things people will only ever spectate, and if you fail at them, understand that you have done something worth doing and you can find solace in knowing that you have truly indulged in the human experience.

“Why are you there? That you should ask yourself: and if you have no ready answer, then set for yourself goals, high and noble goals, and perish in pursuit of them! I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible.”

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