Permission to Fail

About thirteen years ago, I was in the Denver airport on a business trip when I got a call from a close friend who had just signed a book contract with a publisher I didn’t know anything about. It turns out that this publisher was publishing kids’ fantasy novels. They were apparently amazing–tours, posters, awesome book trailers, and the two series they had out, Fablehaven and Levin Thumps, were selling like hotcakes.

I was thrilled for my friend, because it sounded like a great deal, but I was also a little sad, because I would have loved to be a part of that. But the thing was, I didn’t write kids books, and I didn’t write fantasy. I not only didn’t write them, I couldn’t. I knew that with every fiber of my body. I tried on occasion and I just didn’t have that talent.

That night, in my hotel room, I started hearing the voices of a boy in a wheelchair and a girl with no magic. This infuriated me because they were both in a kids’ fantasy novel I would have written, if I could. But I absolutely couldn’t.

Finally, it was getting late–nearly 2:00 in the morning–and the voices wouldn’t go away. So, I did the only thing I could think of to get some sleep. I sat at the hotel desk with my laptop to prove to my brain that I couldn’t write the story. “I’ll try one page,” I told myself. “When my brain sees that I can’t write this story, I will close the computer and get some sleep so I can go to my meeting in the morning.”

So, I sat down and I started writing the story of the boy in the wheelchair. Well, I wrote one page, and then another, and then another, and at some point, I looked down at the desk and saw this weird bar of light. Turning around to see where the light was coming from, I saw that the curtain was open about an inch and the sun was shining through. Looking down at the computer I discovered that I had written a little over 5,000 words of what became my first middle grade novel, Water Keep.

Since that time, I’ve published 12 middle grade books. Our life has been pretty crazy. Jen and I have visited over 3,000 schools. We’ve had ups and downs, haven’t made the money we thought we would, have made way more friends than we could have imagined, have written stories we loved and heard from thousands of readers who loved them along with us. I’ve written books my kids read, and now my kid’s kids are reading them. And, I’ve discovered that, yes, I can write kids’ fantasy books.

So my point is, you never know where life is going to take you, but a lot of times the biggest roadblock standing in your way is fear of failure. You are so sure you can’t do something, so afraid to look foolish for trying, and so convinced you know what your limits are, that you don’t even try.

How do you get past that? It sounds crazy, but, Give Yourself Permission to Fail. That’s it. That’s all it takes to get rid of one of the biggest obstacles standing between you and new opportunities. Tell yourself, “I’m sure that I can’t do this thing, but I’m going to try anyway, and if I fail, that’s okay. I’m not afraid to fail, because I’ve given myself permission to.” And in doing that, you will also give yourself permission to accomplish things you never thought you could.

Have a great day, and go fail!