Why we all need a Fail Club.
I recently came across Imogen Parry’s Creative Morning seminar on why we all need a Fail Club.
At first, I thought, ‘Now that’s an odd concept!’
But then I realized just how brilliant it actually is.
The best thing we can give ourselves, especially as artists, is permission to fail.
Mistakes allow us to push boundaries. To hang out on the edge and feel the uneasiness… making mistakes is how we grow.
But social media has taught us to hide from our mistakes.
It’s become a place for curating only the most positive, fun, and successful aspects of our lives.
We talk only of our triumphs and achievements, and fail to mention our failures.
As artists, we are constantly innovating and creating, and we WILL fail…it’s simply a necessary part of the process.
But when we ‘fail’ we have a tendency to label it as failure.
Success or failure – it’s all or nothing.
But sitting amongst our failures are also the things that went right. There is always something. Take credit for that something.
And maybe…just maybe… it’s our fear of failure that’s a much bigger issue than any actual failures.
The way I see it, if we’re not failing at something, then we’re playing it safe. In giving ourselves permission to make mistakes we learn, and that’s how we grow.
Imagine if you had a group of like-minded artists and creators who could help you mitigate the failure and encourage you to keep going, to keep taking risks…
…even when it’s scary.
What if you could meet with this trusted group of people on a regular basis?
How would that change your resiliency to failure?
A Fail Club is a group of people who will celebrate you even when you’re failing.
They’ll hold space for you to stop, reflect, and grow from your failures, instead of hiding from them.
They’ll remind you to be kind and compassionate with yourself as you fail, and to be courageous enough to keep creating.
Would love to hear any comments you may have and what you think of the whole concept of ‘failure’.
Be well….be creative,
Hmmmmmmm, I should be a genius by now. 🙂
Me too:)
While taking your online class . . . I was watching one of your instructional videos and you were explaining using the heat gun. The warning was to be careful not to apply too much heat as the image will begin to disintegrate and spread out.
I viewed that warning as an open invitation to use that mistake to go “outside” the lines and have fun. I LOVE making mistakes!
Oh yes, it can definitely be fun making mistakes and seeing what happens. Glad you’re having fun doing it too.
The reason I fail so much is because I reach for the difficult. I want to show my work and put it out there. I am not content to keep it in my house. I was just turned down from a great gallery. His rejection was more compliment than criticism so I’ll keep on.
I love the idea of a fail club. It’s OK to fail as long as you don’t keep it to yourself.
Good for you Carol. I love that you see the rejection as a compliment…..keep on going. You are doing fabulous work. I love seeing it. Learn from the mistakes. They are so many in life…..it would be a shame to not learn something from them.
When I was a reviewer for professional journals I kept asking the editors, “Where are the articles on the the experiments and studies that DID NOT turn out as the authors thought they would? We learn at least as much from our “failures” as we do our “successes.” In other words there are no “failed” experiments; there is something to be learned from every outcome.
A friend of mine is a research scientist and he says the same thing all the time…..there is something to be learned for each and every outcome.
I love this idea of a Fail Club. It might be hard to convince people to join, though. Most of us would rather throw the failures under the rug and move on.
Yes Donna, but once convinced to join…..it would be so freeing talking about them.