The Second Greatest Gift A Father Can Give a Child
I’m a lucky man. I grew up with a great dad. He did many things for me that helped me become the man I am today. He also gave me many great gifts. The greatest of which is loving my mom enough to give me the gift of life.
On that same scale of magnitude of great gifts, there is another that sometimes I overlook. He gave me the ability to fail.
This may seem like an odd gift at first glance, as failing is something that most view as a negative. But the truth is, when your dad gives you the gift of being able to fail without being a failure, he is setting you up for success in life.
It’s a fact that some people make one tiny mistake and their life forever changes for the worse. While others have the luxury of being able to “f-up” multiple times and still succeed. I call this your personal “margin of error“.
When your margin of error is thin, you can’t take risks. What’s more, when you can’t take risks, it’s extremely difficult to become the best version of yourself. Simply stated, failure is a necessary part of growth. Without it, you never get to test your limits so you can push past limiting beliefs.
I’m fortunate to have a father who was always there with a safety net if I fell while walking a tightrope. I’m also fortunate to have a father to raise me to have a significant amount of resilience to bounce back from failure. This has propelled me to take significant risk with my career. From quitting a six figure job to start a software company that would eventually fail, to my most recent career pivot into following my passion of being a mental fitness and mindset coach.
For many these type of risks would be unfathomable. For me, they are just another day in the life of being the son of my father. I take each career risk knowing my dad has my back. This is a gift I will not only forever be thankful for, but do whatever it takes to give that same gift to my two sons.