Failure is part of Progression

There have been so many times in my personal and professional careers that I have been so fearful of failure that I have made myself sick. In our society, we are taught to be fearful of failure from a very young age. We are conditioned to think that if we fail our school homework or projects or sports that OUR LIFE WILL COME TO AN END. And we continue to be conditioned in this mindset long into our adulthood and then into seniority. It comes down to “if you don’t do this thing or if you fail at this certain thing then YOU WILL BE HOMELESS AND DIE and so we drive ourselves insane working for this fear of failure machine. I, like you, was trapped in this cycle for the longest time until I got so sick both physically and mentally that I had to change something.

I began to change my thinking in failure and fear when I left my job as an executive chef at 5 restaurants. I was so exhausted from the pressure and long hours of being made to feel like if I didn’t do this thing or that I was going to fail at my job, my life become nothing, and lose everything I had built my life and career around.

It wasn’t until I started my own business as a food photographer that I learned through much trial and error that failure, in itself, IS NOT THE END.
In a lot of cases, failure is only the beginning. I began to understand that failure is a vital part of progression and eventually success. I was so sick of things happening to me that I made a conscious choice to make things happen for me.

Fear is a funny thing. If you let it, it will keep you, prisoner, forever, and when we fear something we become irrational and volatile. Fear is not something that needs to control you, instead, learn to master your fear and you will truly find peace. But this is not always as easy as it sounds. It takes a lifetime to truly master these skills.

The real “come to Jesus” moments happen when you understand that of course, you will fail, make mistakes and give in to fear but that’s all just part of the process. There is a difference between being a slave to your fear and occasionally being afraid of things. Failure is just as useful a tool as success is because it teaches you something about yourself and how to can overcome obstacles both personal and professional. We can always learn something or take something away from our failures just as much as from our successes.

As a Commercial Photographer, it was partly my job to help people face their fears and insecurities of body image. I have often worked with people to help them understand that true beauty comes from the inside and no matter what failures they’ve experienced or mistakes they’ve made. No matter what negative thing anyone has ever said to them ultimately that doesn’t matter unless they allow it to matter. People who are afraid or miserable will try to make you miserable and afraid so that they don’t feel so crappy and if you do anything good or if anything good happens to you they will try to drag you down to their level. But you cannot let others control the outcome of your life. Ultimately you are the master of your destiny. Any progression, successes, or failures happen, happen because of the choices you make.

I clung to the motto of “Do not tell me what I can or cannot do” for most of my life. Meaning do not try to control the outcome of my life because I will be the master of my destiny. And where that helped me through a lot of tough situations, that attitude was still an attitude of fear. I was afraid that if you tried to tell me who I was or wasn’t, I might believe you.

Now, my motto for life is DO MORE. Instead of being rebellious and telling people to not tell me what I can or cannot do, I listen to their opinion and try to find nuggets of truth in what they are saying and determine if they are speaking to me out of their own failures and fear or out of tried and tested life lessons. Then I take those nuggets and use them to DO MORE.

There is always something you can do more to improve your life and the lives of those you are connected to. Instead of rejecting people's criticisms, we can take those opinions and use parts and pieces of them to create change, both in ourselves and our shares of influence.

Remember, You are valuable, You can do it, You will fail, You will make mistakes and you will learn from it. But you are talented and you will succeed.

But ultimately, regardless of anything you do or do not do, you matter.

Do not let failure be the end.

Cheers,
Justin Von Braun