Failure Is Not An Option. It’s A Necessity.

Steven Cribbs    Life     Attitude, Failure, Fear, Life, Live

No one likes to fail. In fact, most of us fear failure. We see failure as something that will keep us from accomplishing our goals, getting that perfect job or gaining the respect that we desire. And, much of the time, we fear that failure will ruin our reputation. Our culture tells us that failure is unacceptable.

But, have you stopped to think what life would be like if you never failed at anything?

So, what if we never failed? Life would be pretty sweet…wouldn’t it? We would never make mistakes and everything would always work out perfectly. But, would that really give us the life we want?

Life Without Failure

Life without failure would not all of a sudden become a string of excitement and triumphant successes. Instead, it would become a monotonous string of non-events that would leave us empty and apathetic towards everything. We would eventually stop trying to do anything – either because we are not willing to try something without a guarantee of perfection; or, because the thrill would be gone knowing the outcome would always be predictable. Without the struggle, the successes become meaningless.

And then we have to ask, in this world full of failure, can we just avoid failing? I guess we could try. But, if failure was not an option that we allowed, wouldn’t we then become so afraid of the possibility of failing that we would avoid anything with the potential to fail?

Think about this: if we never risk failing, all we really do is fail to ever really live.

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What I believe…

Steven Cribbs    Resources     Believe, Quote

“What I believe is not what I say I believe; what I believe is what I do.”

— Donald Miller
Blue Like Jazz

Someone Needs A Time-out: Is It You?

Steven Cribbs    Parenting     child, example, listen, rage, talk, Time-out

So there I am talking with my child, trying to help him understand the gravity of the problem that he just created.  Yes, he is in trouble; but, I am trying to talk things through hoping to help him make better choices next time.  And then, boom!!  Things just explode.  The anger and rage were unbelievable.  And, the negative reactions were, undeserved at the least.  A perfect time to send someone for a bit of time to re-collect themselves.

Oh, did I forget to mention?  The explosion was mine!  I got so upset over something that really was not that big of a deal.  Yes, the point was important and my child was not being respectful.  Should I have gotten that mad that quickly?  Maybe…Probably not.  But, at that point, I couldn’t back down…could I?  I didn’t want my child to think that I was wishy-washy, that he could get away with something, that he could change my mind if he just kept at things long enough, or…gulp…that I was out of line.  But, then again, the example that I had just set was exactly the sort of behavior that I did not want any of my children repeating.

Have you ever had one of those days? read more

A Tale of Two Teams: Which Are You?

Steven Cribbs    Life     effort, football, hopeless, passion, press on, turn around

Awhile back I sat watching a Monday Night Football game in which one of my favorite teams was playing.  The game was intense – meaning that it was hard to watch my team begin to go down in flames.

Everything was going wrong.  By half time, I was ready to give up and change the channel – especially since it looked like my team had given up.  Then, my team emerged from the tunnel for the second half.  As they began to play, you could tell something was different.  My team began to take control and play like champions.  They came back from a dismal start and won the game in total dominance.

In thinking about the game, there is one thing that really stood out to me.  I was amazed at how they finished the game.  They didn’t stop playing at half-time.  They stayed in the game until the last seconds ran off the clock.  Their passion, conditioning, preparation and an unwillingness to give up set the stage for them to overcome so much in order to be victorious. read more