Being set up to fail by your parents
and gaining comfort in the idea
that you are not always going to get something you want
is the biggest gift a parent can give you.
Because there can’t be anything scarier than reaching your 20s
and having never failed. I was a kid,
my parents put me into every single activity,
and they were incredibly high standards in these activities.
So I was aiming to be very good at all of them and somewhat athletic.
Would I say I’m the best at any sport?
Absolutely not.
I’m so comfortable with the idea of going after something
and having it absolutely not work out,
because you got used to the idea of failing at something you wanted
early on. I think
I Learned so much from being put in activities where I was not good,
especially because I was naturally kind of adept at school.
And being put in activities where I wasn’t as good as other people
and I had to work harder to be on the same leveling field,
whether that was swimming,
because I. I’m an okay swimmer,
but being able to compete with people,
I needed to try way harder.
And even if I tried, I was never going to be as good.
And I think it makes you so comfortable with failure.
It makes you so comfortable with committing to things.
And it was the best thing my parents ever did for me.
I think when you Go to an academically rigorous college.
There’s so many kids who have been told their whole life
about how genius and special they are,
and they never failed at anything.
And not getting something really,
really becomes such a scary idea when you’ve never had it before.
And you’ve gone through your whole life up until your 20s,
never failing to get something you want,
which is just unfathomable.