There are two types of failures in this world.

Failure that comes from ACTION, as in, starting to follow your passion and failing.

And failure that comes from INACTION, as in, not starting and never having a shot at success.

Let me tell you a quick story.

I hung out with one of my closest college friends, the other day. We originally met in 2008 and man, did this guy have a lot of passions. He was passionate about marketing, community service, dancing, cooking, and many more things. We always used to talk about our dreams; I was going to be a big time designer with a small team and he was going to be a famous Food Network chef or dancer with a unique 3-in-1 restaurant concept.

Here’s the thing though, my friend had no idea what it took to become a professional dancer or chef, let alone being a Food Network chef.

As the years went by, my friend kept on dancing and cooking. He still had no clue what he was going to do with his talents, but that didn’t stop him from working to get better. No matter how good he got, he kept on pushing himself to get better.

One day while watching Food Network’s ‘Chopped,’ he thought to himself, “I should apply to be on that show.” That same day, he decided he’d apply to be on Chopped.

Being that he was as good a dancer as he was a chef, he decided he’d try to stand out by branding himself as a ‘dancing chef.’ He even came up with a cool little name called 8 Count Kitchen (get it?).

After spending time applying to be on Chopped, making videos, and updating his social pages… he waited.

He waited some more  and waited some more…

Then the news finally came in…

He was NOT selected to be on the show.

After all of that work he put in, he still ended up failing.

The type of failure that comes from following your passion and failing.

Here’s the thing… I’m also a failure. I fail every single day. Heck, you’re probably a failure too.

Have you ever worked really hard for something and still end up failing?

It could be an exam for school, it could be a business venture or a loan…

You put in a lot of work and still fell short.

But–

There’s a difference between failure by action and failure by inaction. When you fail without trying, you never really had a chance of succeeding. Failure without action is permanent.

But when you fail taking action, you can actually DO something about it. You can dust yourself off, make a few changes, and try again, you can try a completely alternate route, you can work to get better and then try again…

Eventually, something will stick.

I’ve failed so many times in my career; making the wrong hiring decisions, running out of money, failing to meet deadlines, you name it, I’ve failed at it.

And that’s why  I’ve seen so many wins!

I don’t know about you, but, I’d rather fail 50x and win 1x rather than not try at all.

And let’s be honest, you’re a failure too. We all are.

The real question is, are you a failure because of your actions or are you a failure because of inaction?

Oh, and that friend I was talking about?

His name is Jermaine Wright. He currently runs a YouTube/Facebook cooking show called 8 Count Kitchen and this Sunday, February 14th at 10PM  est, you can catch him on the Season 2 premiere of Food Network’s All Star Academy.

Let’s fail more… until we start winning!  (DJ Khaled Voice)

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What are you failing at right now? Tweet me now and tell me about it!