Brad Walker on "Failure"

[Jumpman]

"Failure. I've said this about my Olympic performance and everybody keeps saying that I didn't fail. Why has the word failure become such a no no. If I had a silver medal around my neck, I would have failed to reach gold. Failure to me is an acceptable outcome. I have prepared for this meet to the absolute best of my ability. Sacrificed more then most people know or realize. But for those very same reasons, this failure is perfectly okay. I didn't give up. I didn't cut corners, or stop working my a** off when no one was around. I would gladly FAIL pushing the limits of my training then continuing to use the SAFE workouts. I will gladly fail fighting for the gold, then safely receiving silver. In the pole vault we almost always leave the track failing the last three attempts at every meet. Failing is not the enemy, not giving your all is. I will continue to fail at things the rest of my life, but by no means will I ever say that I am
a failure.

There was a quote in the 4th floor of our building. It was from Michael Jordan and the last line of the quote was as I remember,

"I have failed many times in my career which is the reason I succeed."

Please don't fear failure. I don't. I fear the thought of not pursuing my dreams or pushing my personal limits. And I won't fail in that arena.

Thank you for all your support. I love you guys."

Wish more people thought like this.

[user4]

Great quote: If more people thought like this then every person would contribute something and we would be greater as a whole than any of us could ever imagine.

[Marlow]

Once again, it's just semantic differential. Walker is using the word 'failure' in a completely different way that his friends are.

There is no failure in preparing well
There is no failure in trying your best.
There is no failure in competing and getting beaten.
There is no failure in representing your country at the highest level and going down swinging.

Walker is NOT a failure.

I appreciate his attempt to use the word in a different context, and to take complete responsibility for his outcome, but if his 'nh' in London is failure, here's hoping the rest of us are likewise . . . failures.

[j-a-m]

"I have failed many times in my career which is the reason I succeed."

Many successful entrepreneurs say the same.

[j-a-m]

Please don't fear failure. I don't. I fear the thought of not pursuing my dreams or pushing my personal limits. And I won't fail in that arena.

He's exactly right about this. And he seems to make a good distinction between failing at a specific time (don't fear it, accept it and move on) and failing at trying to be your best (which would be the real failure).