I never thought a text about pop culture could get me so fired up. More specifically, the Steve Harvey Miss Universe mistake. I saw it live and I was embarrassed for him like so many others. I heard the people around me talk about it, but never gave it much thought until my brother sent me this text:

“My thoughts about people bashing Steve Harvey: Life isn’t perfect. People aren’t perfect. It’s the chase to perfection that causes so many of us to be unhappy. We make mistakes and fail, but we also grow, adapt and overcome because of this. Most people that criticize others for messing up, never had the guts to step out of their own comfort zone. Until you are willing to fail miserably, you can never achieve greatly. Unless you are willing to take the chance to fail, then stop judging others who did.”

Now, let’s just say that my passion had nothing to do with the actual Steve Harvey mistake. The event in itself is unbelievable. How can a pageant where we judge people based on how they look in a bikini still be a televised event? No, this passion was deeper. It was about the fear of failure in general that holds our society back from chasing what we really want. When you are in the fitness industry, you see this fear all of the time. The fear of setting that goal too high because, what if I miss? This is part of what fueled this “stretch goal” campaign that we launched and why it’s so important to us. We want people to realize that when you put fear aside you are one step closer to the person you want to be. The person you were meant to be. We make our fears more powerful than our dreams. Why? Behind every fear is the person you want to be.

As much as we want mission FITNESS to be a space where it’s okay to chase these stretch goals, we also want to make it a space where it is OKAY TO FAIL! We want you to go after that goal with all you have. If it’s important to you, dedicate yourself to it, work your butt off for it, give it all you have. If you fail, AT LEAST YOU TRIED. “I failed” is so much better than “what if?”

Success is made through failures. Champions are created through failure. I will never forget the text I received from my brother going into my 50 Miler. He said, “I am proud of you no matter what, because I know how hard you have worked. I know that when the race is over you gave it everything you had because that is who you are. No one works as hard as you.” To this day that text plays over and over in my head when I worry about race results. Isn’t that text really what it is all about? If you KNOW that you gave that goal everything you had, then failing IS NOT A BAD THING. The only way failure is negative is when you know you had more to give. When you know that you didn’t give that goal the respect and work it deserved. However, it is even in this instance that we grow and understand what we need to know for next time.

I love the quote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” This is so true. Stop with the excuses. “I don’t have enough time. I am not capable of that. I am too old for that,” etc. You can do anything you are willing to work for. Stop kidding yourself with the excuses. The truth is that you do not want it bad enough, because if you REALLY want something, you can do it. You may not do it on the first try, but through each failure you will get closer and grow. Eventually, if you put fear aside and dedicate yourself to what you are passionate about, YOU WILL ACHIEVE IT!!

Your life wasn’t meant to be lived safely. You weren’t put on this earth to be average. That goal you have is not only possible, but it is NECESSARY because in chasing it you will realize that you are greater than your circumstances.

Take every risk. Drop every fear.