Failure.

I hope you have failed. I hope you continue to fail.

I hope you don’t look at “failure” as the end, but as part of the process of your continued growth. Just because you don’t accomplish something doesn’t mean YOU are a failure. It means you failed to accomplish X.

The result: You have learned something that doesn’t work, or didn’t work in that scenario. You have learned. It’s productive, it’s a part of the process. You don’t have to have liked it, but you need to accept it, realize it’s a part of the game and take your next step. There has to be a next step.

I hope you have tried things so lofty you don’t succeed the first time you try. I hope you fail, and fail, and because of your perseverance and tenacity and sheer stubbornness, you prevail. There will be very little that tastes so sweet.

You come in the gym and train. There is absolutely no failure. Even if you don’t PR and even if you got time capped and even if your friend didn’t pick you to be their partner and even if you didn’t get to use your favorite pull-up bar and couldn’t do your sets of 7 unbroken chest to bar pull-ups for 47 min. Any way you want to chalk it up (get it?), you are training. This is what is supposed to be happening here. You learn what’s possible. You learn what’s not, at least today. Can it change? Will is change?Absolutely, if you continue to work. But, if you take this “failure” as the end, absolutely not. It will not change; how could it? Things only change because you make them. You show up, you put in the work, over and over again.

So cut the self deprecating talk, it’s not good for you, it’s not good for those around you, and it’s contagious. The stuff you do in here, day to day, is absolutely amazing. So show up, work hard, and have fun. Challenge yourself. It’s your journey.

Don’t be afraid to "fail.” Don’t be afraid to “learn.”

I hope you continue to try to do the things you have never done.