Failure

A week or two ago my friend posted her cookie cup disaster on facebook and I thought it was great. I had actually seen the top image on Pinterest a few months earlier.  Have you ever tried something you saw online only for it to flop?  I do it all the time!  Especially with my videos.  I can’t tell you how many websites I’ve built in the past 3 years thinking they were going to be “the next big thing” or “go viral”.  Our human nature is to want to fit in and even be admired.  I think the fear of failure keeps us from enjoying too many things in life.  We become complacent.  We’ll only try something if we know we will succeed.  What is the point?  Isn’t the unknown adventure that is half the fun?

There are a few people I follow online that truly inspire me.  Sometimes I wish I could be like them!  But I’m not.  I’m just me.  People like Shaycarl, Freddie Wong, Leo Babauta, Adam Baker, Grant Peele,  and a host of other individuals who have taken life into their own hands and carved out their own career and created a life where they are free from the 9-5 rat race, oppressive debt and letting someone else dictate their day to day.

For every Leo Babauta, who writes one of the most popular blogs online, there are THOUSANDS of wannabes like me with a half dozen blogging attempts and almost nothing to show for it.  For every freddiew, who gets millions of views on every new video, there are hundreds of video creators struggling even to justify spending hours editing a video for an audience that is the fraction of the size. What does it take to shake that feeling that it can work for them but not for me?  How do you ignore your failures and continue pursuing relentlessly?

I can’t wait for my freinds Grant and Adam to release their upcoming documentary called, “I’m Fine, Thanks.”  They are only 2 days into their kickstarter campaign and have already raised over $25,000 to help them finish the project.  Check out the video then follow the link and contribute to the project. $5 gets you a digital download of the film when it is done.

These guys are awesome.  A year ago, Adam and his family did a cross country tour in an RV. When they passed through our town we had them over for dinner and got to know his wife and daughter.  Adam runs a popular finance blog and community called Man Vs Debt.  When I met Grant he asked me to help him with a video he was making.  Later I found out the video involved me being tied up in an abandoned apartment.  It was a lot of fun, I promise.  Both these guys have their family as the number one priority in their life and they pursue what moves them.  I feel like they are making this documentary just for me but, by the response, I can tell I’m not the only one that feels the way I do.