“You’ve got to take a shot, you have to live at the edge of your capabilities. You’ve got to live where you’re almost certain you’re going to fail. Failure actually helps you to recognize the areas where you need to evolve. So, fail early, fail often, fail forward.”
—Actor and songwriter Will Smith, speaking about the joy of failure (CNBC)
Are you a better basketball player than your brother? Can you bake the best cake in the neighborhood? It’s possible! But if you never test these ideas, you will never answer these questions. The only way to know is to try. You need to ask your brother to play basketball against you, or you need to practice baking and sharing your cake. In other words, you need to take a shot at doing these things.
To take a shot is to try. Imagine shooting a gun. You won’t always hit your target, but you try. Will Smith is a popular actor, rapper, and songwriter. However, he wasn’t always famous, and he isn’t always perfect. He tries many things, and sometimes he fails. In his opinion, it’s important to take a shot and fail. Trying different ways to do things is how we grow and get better.
When did you take a shot at something? How do you feel about failure?