Failure...our greatest teacher.

The fear of failure amazes me. The idea of failing has literally froze me in my tracks at times. However it has been in my failures that I have learned the most from in life.

It's a truism of life that we will fail more than we will succeed. Micheal Jordan is famous for his quote on missing 9000 shots, losing over 300 games, and failing to score on 26 game winning baskets in his career. The irony of failure is it is where we learn the most. It is humbling and forces you to evaluate where you went wrong so as not to repeat it again. No matter how often one succeeds, it is when we fail that learning really happens.

Success in contrast to failure is elating, exciting, and euphoric. It has built into it an addictive quality that begs for more. However it bares with it a blinding view of the full reality of what it means to win and/or why you won at all. BASE jumper Ian Mitchard once shared with me (paraphrasing), that BASE jumpers 'win' (in theory) every time they have a successful jump. But they know that precision and execution is only part of what makes a jump successful. If they don't account for an element of luck and pay homage to it. They are setting themselves up for what could be catastrophic. Looking back at my life, I believe I have failed far more than I have succeeded. To start off, I failed the 3rd grade and was forced to repeat it. Born with an auditory learning deficit and struggling with reading comprehension. I was unable to maintain the pace of my classmates. And so I defaulted to being the class clown and entertaining the room (to the chagrin of my elementary teachers). However they don't give a grade for 'class clownery' good as you may be. And so I had to learn the hard way by repeating the third grade and starting up a hill of learning that would teach me the biggest lesson of all. The lesson that learning doesn't begin and end in the classroom. In fact learning usually starts after school ends.

Today I still find comfort in entertainment and I find some solace in the failures of life. While I can't say I love them, I can say I have learned a lot from them that I appreciate. In fact, I consider myself the wiser because if it. You might say I am the boy scout of lessons learned.

So to all those who can relate, I say this. When you fail remember that's when class is in session. Enjoy the process for without it you may never have learned a thing. And when you succeed keep your eyes open. For while your hard work has gotten you there new lessons are on the horizon. Head bowed thanks for reading my friends, Barry Walton -- Btw: We finished the second portion fo the Jeep shoot.

It turned out ok. Have a look (here).

**Credit goes to people far more talented than I that helped complete this project. Thanks! Did you miss the back story on the Jeep shoot? Go here. Would you like to read more of our blogs and see our work. Check us out here.

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