Plan to Fail – WHAT???

I was reading an online post about goal setting. Most of the time we procrastinate because we do not know how to get started, fear failing, or even fret about not having the skills to actually do the things that need to be done. So the message given, plan to fail. I actually stopped reading and went back to see if I had read it correctly. PLAN TO FAIL, what???? That seems totally counter to goal setting, and then I thought about it. I mean really thought about it.

If we do not act because we are afraid of failing, which means we ARE failing because we are not doing, then why not plan to fail? Somehow it actually makes sense. You know you’re going to fail, plan on it, then the sting is not so sharp and the blow to the ego is wiped away. Do it, fail, then determine what went wrong and try again. If you fail again, learn, re-evaluate and try again. If we go into something knowing it isn’t going to work, and give ourselves the freedom to fail without judgement, we also open the door to learning from failure….which is never a loss.

HHHmmm…things that make ya’ go HHmmmmm. I got it. Plan to fail makes sense. When we couch our first attempt as a planned failure, it isn’t so scary. The pressure to be perfect, get it all right the first time, to do without knowing or not having the skills is gone. Vanished. Vamoosed! Poof, suddenly the pressure value is off. Our self esteem is better able to handle the failure as we planned it that way.

Or we can keep doing what we are doing. Driving ourselves mad, igniting our anxiety with just the thought of not being perfect, or even spending hours and hours checking out how to do it perfect the first time and never attempting to get started out of fear…which means we are failing. We just call it planning, procrastination or perfectionism.

Being an adult is tough. Getting old is not for sissies! If you haven’t figured it out by now, you and I are not perfect. FAR from it! (No matter what our Mothers say!) When we give ourselves the gift of planned failure, we get to try and learn in an environment of support and opportunity. So you fail, you planned it that way, so in essence you win! Woo hoo! Knowing it will not go right the first time is a gift to our mental health. Perfectionism goes out the window and our self esteem survives for another day.

So today, plant to fail! It’s true. Failure is a gift and when we plan it, we can digest it without anxiety or self reproach. Wow! How freeing to go into something with an attitude of learning through the failure AND giving ourselves the gift of gained wisdom. Take THAT perfectionism! You no longer have the power to make us feel bad about not being perfect all the time! Wah La!

Now that we’ve solved that, let’s tackle World Peace, World Hunger or the maldistribution of wealth! Just kidding…although, we would fail at attempting to solve those problems, and when we plan to fail we win, so maybe we can!?! Who knew!?!