What You Must Accept to Chase Your Dreams

Have you read Year of Yes by Shonda Rimes (or as I affectionately call her, mama Shonda)? It’s probably one of the best books I’ve read this year, so far.

This quote, pulled from her commencement address at Dartmouth, has been etched in me since I read it:

Shonda, how do you do it all?

The answer is this: I don’t.

Whenever you see me somewhere succeeding in one area of my life, that almost certainly means I am failing in another area of my life.

And there it is. Nothing especially ground breaking, and maybe something you’ve heard before. But, hearing from Shonda Rimes, the woman who owns ABC on Thursday nights, who writes shows that turn to goal, that is real.

Going after what you want, what you really believe you are meant to do, means failing. Plain and simple. Big fails, little fails –all among some wins, also big and small, but fails nonetheless.

You will mess up, you will misjudge, you will sacrifice, choose one thing you love over another. These are necessary things. Failing, in one area of life or another, is a necessary thing if you intend to go after what’s yours.

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The key is not to get caught up in, or stuck on, those fails. You have to accept that they are going to happen. That they might sting, and bring up emotions or obstacles that you will be responsible for overcoming. Remembering that the fails don’t define you, but rather help to define and characterize your story.

Don’t let the failures get you down. Because at the end of all of the fails, is your destiny.

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