On Failure

by dashboardcitizen

“You’re circling failure in a rapidly decaying orbit. That’s the reality as we talk now. But you can change that. It’s in your power to change that.”

I’m convinced these are some of the greatest lines ever written for any form of visual media ever. And the best part is that they’re delivered by the incredible actor Garry Marshall — that dude from Pretty Woman, in case you’re not familiar with him.

I like to come back to them whenever I’m feeling down because I’ve failed — or am in the process of failing — at one of my most recent endeavors. There’s something so incredibly inspiring about them. And I think it’s because they’re more “real” than what you usually get from the you can do it-type crap and platitudes.

Because unlike those fucking cliches, reality is pretty daunting. If you aspire to be anything that might command some respect or idealize some notion of success, the odds are immediately against you. Chances are you will fail. And you’ll probably feel really crappy about it afterwards, too.

But while all that may be true, there’s still that little sliver of a thing called hope. That little just maybe in the back of all of our minds that for, whatever reason, pushes us forward. Because while, yes, a lot of people — most people — fail each and every single day, there will always be that tiny minority that finds success. And some naive part of us thinks that we can be among them.

But that naiveté is important. Because the worst thing you can do in life is become sick and tired and jaded. Because living your life like that, through a constant prism of cynicism and complacency, only guarantees failure every single time. It only guarantees that you’ll get the worst out of living — and nobody wants that.

So it’s important to take note of what Garry Marshall is saying in these lines. To take note of the fact that you will fail. To realize that it’s really just an inevitability and that it’s going to kick the shit out of you on more than one occasion. But you do have some control. As futile as it may seem, if you work harder and push yourself to be better, you might be able to tip the odds in your favor.

And while that’s never a guarantee, it could be just enough to achieve that oh-so-elusive title of success.