Nick Bladen – Part 6 – Bass Strait Kayaking Voyage

In this article, Nick gives his thoughts on the definition of failure and success. It is interesting the way he looks at his initial “failure” and how that catapulted him onto his successful journey. In our own lives during our own “journeys”, how many of us, just give up, not learn from those experiences, and therefore not reach a successful outcome? I loved Nick’s approach to failure, and his definitions, as I am sure you will also. Enjoy

In future, if you ever feel like you have failed, ask yourself this….”Did I give up?” If the answer is no, then you did not fail. Letting go is simply that – letting go of what isn’t serving you anymore. I challenge you to confront yourself in the future when things don’t go as planned, and be honest and ask yourself, “Am I giving up, or simply letting go?” You will know the difference and your inner truth will tell you which one you are doing!

I believe that failure (giving up) is born from unrealistic expectation, of both the goal, but more so the steps in achieving that goal. Yes, a very clear picture of the desired outcome must exist, whether it be at work, fitness, financially or even in a relationship. However, I have learned that by defining how we get that goal will inevitably lead to frustrations, clouded judgement and an over-powered ego. Yes, steps are a pre-requisite too, but keep in mind, these steps can change and most likely will. Having the inordinate need to have something occur in a specific way, at a specific time, in a specific sequence, or the inability to let go of that which clearly isn’t serving us will result in a self mutiny againgst your fate. If the will is there, and is true, with committment, resilience and the assertion of courage in the face of the unknown, your objective, goal and result, destination, or whatever you want to call it, will be realised. Maybe not in the form you perhaps once originally envisioned, but it will be achieved.

In saying this though, it is very easy then to proclaim the shortfall of its exact attainment or longevity as a failure. It’s no surprise that people hold this view, and it is one that must be quashed out of our conscious thinking, and this is why! Experience is what we get when we don’t get what we want. That is, we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. By not reaching Tasmania on our first attempt, we gained tremendous experience, knowledge and confidence to equip us with all that was necessary to successfully get across the second time. The first attempt just wasn’t meant to happen.

Don’t be discouraged by failure, it can be a very positive experience. Well, it was for us. Not getting what we initially wanted, in a sense, was the highway to our success. How, you may ask? Well, it was the highway insomuch as the discovery of every wrong decision, and what didn’t work the first time which lead us to seek other ways. With every fresh experience we had, whether it was positive or negative, pointed out some form of fault and error, which was afterwards carefully avoided. This is what assisted us in achieving our dream, our little Mt Everest if you like, of joining the few that have successfully kayaked across one of the toughest open stretches of water in the world. (By the way, how are your Mt Everests’ going?)