I Fail All The Time…

Failure.

Hands down it sucks, it happens to everybody and its debilitating. There’s a whole industry based of how to help people deal with failure. It’s fascinating really. We all know that you can’t “win ’em all,” but when you face a setback, it still stings.

In 2008, I released my first collection of short stories, entitled “By The Ounce And Other Tales.” The title story (SPOILER ALERT) was about a guy who was unlucky at love who bought a “liquid confidence” concoction from a salesman. The story was inspired by  the “date doctor” fad that was popular in the mid 2000s. These “pick up artists” told men everywhere that they can help them get dates, but it occurred to me that these experts were just selling a person’s confidence back to them for a profit. Not knocking them for doing so, but I had to ask myself “why”?

Why would anyone enlist the help of an expert to help them date?

The answer is rejection. Nobody wants to be told “no thanks.” Whether it’s from a romantic interest, Uncle Sam at a military recruitment station or a book publisher, getting doors slammed in your face never gets any easier.

When my Indiegogo for creating a graphic novel based on my superhero creation SILVERSTREEK failed (and by failed, I mean like 2% funded failed), I was left more baffled than anything else. People loved the one shot single issue and they told me they wanted more, so what gives?  Perhaps I let my ego get in the way of seeing the true marketplace. Maybe, after almost a decade of being a writer and comedian (and not being anywhere near where I wanted to be) I figured nobody was simply buying what I was selling.

Then I came across this clip from the movie “Rocky Balboa” (though I will forever call it Rocky 6). I actually own the DVD, but I haven’t watched it in years

Ah doubt, there you are! I was starting to miss you. Maybe “success” as I am envisioning it may not come as soon as I want (if even at all), but as The Italian Stallion said himself, “it ain’t about how hard you hit..”