Did you ever hear the fable about the dog and the butcher?
It’s hands down one of my favorites!
It’s short… but packs a punch about failure.
Before I tell it, can we agree on something?
People talk a lot about failure on social media:
“Fail early”
“Fail often"
“Fail forward”, etc.
Look, I agree with these statements, but let’s be real.
There are a lot of people talking about failure, but not as many people actually experiencing failure.
That’s a big problem.
People are either A) not working hard enough to fail…
Or B) hiding their failures to maintain their social media highlight reels.
Both things are really unfortunate, because:
Failure and the hard work that precedes it are the best teachers that you’ll ever have.
Perfect segue to my favorite fable! It goes like this:
“A dog bounded into a butcher’s shop and seized a heart while the butcher was busy, and then made his getaway.
Turning around, the butcher saw him flee with it and shouted:
‘Hey, you! Wherever you may run to, I’ll have my eye on you. For you haven’t made me lose heart but caused me to take heart.’”
So what’s it mean?
FAILURE SHARPENS YOU. IT IS THE BEST EDUCATION.
The butcher lost the heart, but he gained a lesson worth much more than its sale.
And that’s just what failure is about:
- Gaining knowledge
- Gaining wisdom
- Gaining faith
All of which are much more valuable than whatever was lost during your failure.
So as you start your work each day, remember the butcher:
Stay sharp, cut through your excuses, and push yourself harder than the day before.
You may fail fast, but you’ll learn faster.
Talk to you soon,
Joey