I decided to start with an easy failure. Almost two years ago I was talking with a colleague and she suggested I get onto a TEDx stage, and I immediately responded with “No, it has to be TED. THE TED.”
That thought lit me up. That was more my style – jump straight to the end. The idea went away until recently when we spoke again, and I found myself feeling the same way.
Once I declared that this would be my Year of Failure, the TED idea came back to me. Time to do something about it.
I did my research and found their nomination page for speakers. Easy enough.
As I stared at the page, the voices started to show up. “Who do you think you are?” “You have nothing new to offer.” “They’re looking for more accomplished people”.
But, this is my Year of Failure, after all. So I leaned into it.
And then I had to answer what my big idea would be that I’d share.
One of my favorite tools came immediately to mind: Create a game you win the moment you decide to play it.
What if I played this game right now?
Here were my simple winning conditions:
- Nominate myself for TED.
- Overcome all the internal resistance and stories I have in my head of why I shouldn’t.
- Create a compelling nomination.
- Press submit.
The game is won when I press “Submit”.
So in my nomination I outlined that I was using this very technique. I have created a game that you win by choosing to play. This idea is foundational to everything I do, including my work around impossible goals. I’m living it right now.
And because I was playing to “fail,” it liberated me. I could detach myself from the outcome, because if they don’t accept me, I had won by submitting myself in the first place.
And so I did.
My two strategies are now overlapping. This idea has been kicking around for almost two years and it took my willing to fail to execute on it.
And more importantly, this will kick off many more failures to come. Where will I take it next? I’m excited to find out.
What’s an idea you’ve been avoiding for a long time? What if you allowed yourself to “fail” at it?
