Dare to fail
Today is the International Day for Failure. Yes… there’s a day all about celebrating shortcomings, sharing your experiences and learning from them. Failure might be an odd thing to talk about when I’m just weeks away from sailing single-handed non-stop around the world in one of the most gruelling races out there, but I think it’s so important to acknowledge. Failure is part of life. It’s how we learn, grow and change. And when you fail at something at least you know you’ve tried – it’s the fear of failure that almost always holds us back from trying new things and going for that goal we’ve always dreamed of.
I recently wrote about my own sailing world record attempt in which I tried to sail a monohull single-handed around the Isle of Wight in less than 5 hours 5 minutes (the current world record). I tried… and failed. I went from 45 minutes ahead of the record to half an hour behind. But it was never about beating a world record for me, it was to get out there and test myself and Medallia to see what we could do. I learned a lot from the experience, I had some of the best sailing ever and both Medallia and I came away from it stronger.
To even have the slightest chance of success at something you have to accept that there’s always going to be an element of failure, a chance things might go wrong. In solo sailing there is always that chance and everything comes down to you – there’s no one else to share the load with when you’re out on the water, which is liberating and terrifying all at the same time. But I have always believed in acknowledging mistakes and learning from them, you can’t turn the clock back, but there’s always a chance to put things right.
Throughout my sailing career I’ve of course experienced multiple moments of failure, from 40ft waves battering the boat to hurricane-force winds of 70 knots, the elements can be unforgiving and sometimes things happen that you can’t control. But I’ve learned something new from every single experience and when something goes wrong or doesn’t turn out as you expected it’s those moments where you understand how strong you are as a person.
Most of the time what limits us is ourselves and wanting reassurance from other people but what I’ve learned is that there’s no magic door that someone opens for you. Whatever you want to achieve, you have to have the courage to go out there and make it happen. And often that means pushing yourself beyond the limits of what you think you’re capable of.
When you’re in the middle of the ocean you don’t have a choice – you have to push yourself even if it terrifies you and you have to accept that sometimes mistakes happen and there’s no one to help. But I truly believe that mistakes and flaws are part of being human.
When you push yourself outside of your comfort zone to do the things you’ve always wanted to do, that’s usually when all of the greatest things happen. I’m just weeks away from the Vendee Globe, a race I’ve been dreaming about since I was 16. While I’m definitely not going into the race trying to fail, I’m not afraid of it either. I know I have one of the oldest boats in the fleet and things might go wrong, but I also know that the boat is strong and capable and so am I. While my number one objective is to get round and finish, I’m also setting myself the goal of breaking the current female record of 94 days. While I know there’s a chance I might not beat that record, I’m not going to let that stop me from trying.
Whatever your goal is, I’d encourage you to go for it and don’t let the fear of falling stop you from trying because just by trying you have succeeded, the outcome might not end up exactly as you imagined it, but that is not failure it is a different sort of success that will take you to the next level where there’s always the chance that you’ll fly.
Don’t wait to be shown a way, or be told how to get to your goal – if there’s no clear path then make one yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do something if you know (or even think) you can.
A big thank you to BELLA Loves Me for sponsoring this blog post. BELLA puts people before profit and is injecting love, beauty and empathy into the banking industry. In contrast with all of the other banks that speak about safety, Bella is ready to take some risks on their own shoulders in order to help people and to them failing is a big act of love. I love their attitude and approach, so I’m excited to be partnering with them on their #wemightfail campaign. To keep up with all that’s happening at BELLA, you can follow them on Instagram at @bellaloves.me.