Accepting Failure is Part of Success

This was originally written for the Inner Game of Acting students on the 1-Year Full Time Acting course at ACS before their Improv Performances: 

What a Perfectionist Isn't

A perfectionist is not someone who wants to get it all right. They are afraid of getting things wrong.

The only reason you would need to correct something time and time again is because you’re afraid that it will not satisfy or suffice as it is.

As actors, we cannot be perfectionists. We live in a messy art form. We work with mess and unpredictability. The moment to moment nature of exceptional performance requires us to embrace the spontaneous, and spontaneity has the prospect of failure built into it. If we work from moment to moment, we could fail at any time.

The Horizon

There’s a great metaphor: Our journey is like sailing a boat across the ocean. If our goal is perfection, if we’re focused on getting something right, then we are like the sailor who sets their course for the horizon. The horizon can never be reached and it will be impossible to measure progress on the way. You will lose because you cannot win.

No successful person became successful without failing.

It is naive to think that successful people became successful without failing. As if theirs was a blessed existence featuring one successful step after another.

Failure is just a form of feedback. It says you haven’t got there yet. It says that didn't work, try something else.

The Truth About Failure

You WILL fail. It is inevitable. Attempting to prevent yourself from failing is one of the biggest causes of failure. We become risk averse, tight, and tense.

Accepting that failure is part of the journey to success IS PART of the journey to success.

Do you know who doesn’t fail?

Those that never fully commit to achieving in the first place.