The Gift of Almost

We spend so much energy trying to avoid falling short. We hedge our bets, manage expectations, and sometimes don't even attempt what we truly want because the gap between aspiration and achievement feels too risky to expose.

But falling short isn't failure's cousin. It's a growth prerequisite.

When you fall short, you discover exactly where the edge of your current capability lives. Not theoretically, but precisely. You learn what you actually know versus what you thought you knew. You find out which skills need sharpening and which assumptions need discarding.

Falling short also reveals character in ways success never can. Success confirms what you already believed about yourself. Coming up short forces you to decide who you are when things don't go according to plan. Will you quit? Adjust? Double down? That decision, made in the gap between where you are and where you hoped to be, tells you more about yourself than any victory speech ever could.

There's something else too: falling short keeps you humble and hungry in equal measure. It reminds you that you're still learning, still becoming. And paradoxically, that's exactly the mindset that eventually closes the gap.

The people who achieve the most aren't the ones who never fall short. They're the ones who fall short, pay attention to why, and use that information to recalibrate their approach.

So maybe the question isn't "What if I fall short?" but rather "What will I learn when I do?"

Because you will. And that's actually the point.