Failing Forward

In the past week or so I began to get a bit restless. Questions about my career kept creeping into my head. 

I realized that I love what I am doing with my business and I am proud of what I have accomplished. When I think about my plans for the future, I am both excited and scared.

The fear tends to hold me back every now and then. I was browsing the bookshelves of Borders and came across Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell. 

I am only halfway through the book, but it is changing my thoughts on the fear of failing. 

Maxwell explains that everyone has failed in their life, "Every successful person is someone who failed, yet never regarded himself as a failure." 

He gives the following examples:

• "Mozart... was told by Emperor Ferdinand that his opera The Marriage of Figaro was 'far to noisy' and contained 'far too many notes'"
• "Vincent van Gogh... sold only one painting in his lifetime"
• "Thomas Edison... was considered unteachable as a youngster"
• Albert Einstein... was told by a Munich schoolmaster that he would 'never amount to much'" 

Maxwell continues, "All great achievers are given multiple reasons to believe they are failures. But in spite of that, they preserve."

If the worlds greatest musicians, painters, and inventors overcame their failures, why am I afraid of failing?