The Benefits of Failure

At her Harvard commencement speech, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling offers some powerful, heartening advice to dreamers and overachievers, including one hard-won lesson that she deems “worth more than any qualification I ever earned.”

My favorite points from the video:

• There is an expiration date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction.(Wait. Who still does that? As an adult?  Stop blaming your momma for your lack of motivation in yourself please.)
• If I had succeeded at something else, I would never have had the opportunity to succeed in the area in which I belonged. (Imagine what kind of life you would have now if you succeeded at that thing you were never really in love with? You would never have a chance to succeed at doing what you love.)
• Rock bottom became the foundation in which I built my life. (The only way to go from the bottom is UP right?)
• It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you lived so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all; in which case you failed by DEFAULT. (Stop living life on eggshells!)
• You will never yourself or the strengths of your relationships without having gone through adversity.
• Life is not a checklist of acquisitions or achievement, your qualifications are NOT your life. (I need to remember that line for every person that rattles off their resume when I ask what are you into?)

I belive the formula is this: Fail. Succeed. Rinse and Repeat. I’m pretty sure you can handle that :-)

What are you afraid to succeed at?