Failing Doesn’t Mean You’re A Failure

A David Goggins-ism on overcoming failure by not going at the struggle alone:

Failing doesn’t mean you’re a failure, it means you failed one time at one thing. 

What follows is a transcribed quote from Goggins’ Can’t Hurt Me audiobook. It comes after a story where Goggins has tried to beat the Guinness Book pullup record 2x, very publicly, and utterly failed both times. 

He’s in/on his way to an emergency room with his mom (as an adult, mind you), with split down to the nerves palms, and thinking about who you surround yourself with in moments like this and why. 

Here’s what he says, 

A lot of us surround ourselves with people who speak to our desire for comfort, who would rather treat the pain of our wounds and prevent further damage instead of callous over them and try again. We need to surround ourselves with people who will tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, but at the same time not make us feel that we’re up against the impossible.

…most wars are won or lost in our own heads, and when we’re in a fox hole we usually aren’t alone, and we need to be confident in the heart, mind, and dialogue of the person hunkered down with us because at some point we will need some empowering words to keep us focused and deadly.   

Know who your people are. You’re going to need them. Because whatever just went wrong, or not your way, or is making you feel like crap right now – it was just one thing at one point in time.