May 21, 2025
134. Why Being Afraid to Fail Might Be Your Biggest Failure
Send us a text Fear of failure paralyzes so many of us in our personal and professional lives. We stand at the precipice of opportunity but retreat to safety, telling ourselves it's better not to try than to fall short. But what if failure isn't what we think it is? In this thought-provoking episode, we challenge the very existence of failure through the wisdom of basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Shortly before his tragic passing in 2020, Bryant shared a perspective that could transform how yo...
Fear of failure paralyzes so many of us in our personal and professional lives. We stand at the precipice of opportunity but retreat to safety, telling ourselves it's better not to try than to fall short. But what if failure isn't what we think it is?
In this thought-provoking episode, we challenge the very existence of failure through the wisdom of basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Shortly before his tragic passing in 2020, Bryant shared a perspective that could transform how you approach challenges: "Failure doesn't exist. It's a figment of your imagination." Through a powerful recorded interview with Bryant, we explore his unique mindset that transcends both the fear of failure and the pressure to win, finding instead a centered approach focused purely on learning and growth.
The Mamba Mentality reveals that setbacks only become failures when we choose not to progress from them. As Bryant explains, "If I fail on Monday, I'm going to learn something from that failure and try again on Tuesday." This perspective isn't just inspiring—it's practical wisdom for entrepreneurs, parents facing new challenges, graduates entering the workforce, and anyone standing at life's crossroads.
What holds you back from taking chances? Is it fear, lack of support, or something else entirely? Whether you're contemplating starting a business, pursuing a promotion, or navigating major life transitions, Bryant's analytical approach to disappointment offers a blueprint for resilience. The real failure isn't stumbling—it's stopping and refusing to learn. Listen now, and perhaps you'll never see failure the same way again.
This podcast is sponsored by Starvelle Talent Group. Our goal is to help the culture build Wealth Assets Prosperity. We appreciate you taking the time to listen to this episode and share the content if you find value.
00:00 - Introduction to Failure Concept
01:28 - Personal Reflections on Fear
03:07 - Kobe Bryant on Types of Players
05:04 - Why Failure Doesn't Exist
07:12 - Learning and Moving Forward
WEBVTT
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Bienvenidos a Ideal Millennial Entrepreneur Podcast, the podcast for millennial entrepreneurs, where each week, I share financial tips on how to improve your finance, increase your income and your mindset as a millennial entrepreneur.
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Thanks for joining me in today's episode, empecemos.
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Welcome to the Ideal Millennial Entrepreneur Podcast, and this is episode number 134.
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So for today's episode, we are going to dive in into the whole notion of failure.
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So what I'm going to do today is I'm going to share a YouTube clip of Kobe Bryant explaining the process of failure.
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So many of you, if you know you guys, are quite aware who Kobe Bryant is.
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He was a superstar that played for the Los Angeles Lakers.
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He ended up passing away back in 2020 with his daughter in a horrific helicopter accident.
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And one thing I have always respected respected when I was growing up watching Kobe play, I was not a fan of the Lakers, I actually hated the Lakers.
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And to see that now that he's passed away and I have got a chance to look at his or understand his mindset when it comes to winning because you can always learn from anyone and I always feel you can learn so much from your mistakes, especially your failures.
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But we are in life.
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We're afraid to take those chances and fail.
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We're afraid to take those chances and fail.
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So what we do is you have a lot of people out here in this world that just don't take any chances in life because they're scared for whatever reason Could be scared could be, don't have the right support system, don't have the right financial backing, et cetera.
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But the reason I'm discussing this too is because my daughter is graduating college.
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I mean, she's graduating high school this year and she's about to embark on another journey of her life.
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And one thing I can say that is it is much appreciative to see that she's came here.
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So it's from a long place of where she used to be, and now you know she's going to have the opportunity to get into the world.
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And you know, try to embark this new journey in life and there's going to be a lot of failures and a lot of us are afraid to get to that point in life.
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So for me, this episode is me sharing the clip of Kobe Bryant.
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But also understand whatever that you may be feeling right now is you need to understand that you're going to make mistakes in life.
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Whatever you decide to do, whether it's a business, go for a promotion at work, raising kids, having an accessible marriage All this is part of the process, and it's a part of the process, is part of who you become.
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But when it comes to failure, is we are so afraid to start or do anything because we want to stay safe.
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And I believe, when it comes to failure, you have to enjoy the fail and that's the only way you're going to get better, because you will maybe get better if you don't enjoy failing.
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That's the only way you're going to get better, because you will maybe get better if you don't enjoy failing.
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And for me, today's episode that's what's going to cover, from the mindset of someone who won five championships, an athlete, one of the greatest players of all time, all that jazz.
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So hopefully you enjoyed this podcast episode.
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It is much appreciative you taking the time to listen to this podcast episode.
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I am sorry about that and for me, this is a great.
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This is a great opportunity for us all in life, for us to push through and push through these failures, push through and learn from these, learn from these mistakes that you made.
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Okay, so thank you very much, and now I'm gonna leave you with the snippet, a recording of kobe bryant and his explanation of failure I always think that there's two types of players players who love to win and players who hate to lose.
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Which one are you?
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uh, I'm neither neither.
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Uh, meaning that you know I, I play to um to figure things out.
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I played to learn something.
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Right?
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Because I think if you, if you play with um with a fear of failure, or you play with um, the will to win or that supersedes the fear of failure.
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I think it's a weakness either way.
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Right?
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Because if you play with the fear of failing, you'll have the pressure on yourself to play, you know, to capitulate to that fear.
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If you play with the sense of I want to win, I want to win, then you have the fear of what happens if you don't.
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But if you find common ground in the middle, in the center, then it doesn't matter.
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You're unfazed by either, right, and that enables you to really just stay in the moment, stay connected to it and not feel anything other than what's in front of you.
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So I try to just be dead center.
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So a lot of people in general are afraid of failure.
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How did you become one of those people who doesn't seem to be afraid of failing?
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It doesn't exist.
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It's not existent.
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What the hell does that mean?
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Seriously, what does failure mean?
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It's not, it doesn't.
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It doesn't exist, it's a figment of your imagination.
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What does it mean?
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Why are you?
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pulling the Jedi mind trick on me right now.
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No, I'm serious?
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No, I'm serious.
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I'm trying to think like, how can I explain it?
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So let's use happy endings, right, and then we can relate this to failure.
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Why it's not existing.
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Like you know, everybody talks about, like everybody wants a happy ending right Now.
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Let's go to the reality of it, right.
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Let's look at a fairy tale story.
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Let's look at Snow White.
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She gets a happy ending.
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She finds Prince, or whatever.
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She goes on.
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She lives happily ever after.
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Well, I call bullshit on that, because two months later, the fact is they had an argument and he's sleeping on the couch, right?
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So the point is, the point is the story continues.
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The story continues.
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So if you fail on Monday, the only way it's a failure on Monday is if you decide to not progress from that Right.
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So to me, that's why failure is non-existent, because you know, if I fail today, okay, I'm going to learn something from that failure and I'm going to try again on Tuesday and I fail, and I'm going to try again on Wednesday.
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So it doesn't exist.
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You know what?
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Should my ratings go on the tank?
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That's exactly what I'm gonna say to the bosses.
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A, it doesn't exist.
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We should try to get on Thursday your ratings going to take, and you know which they won't, but if they did, you had learned a valuable lesson.
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You learn a bunch of ways of how not to make the show that sucks, so.
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So then the next one would be better than the last one, right?
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so are you telling me?
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Then let's just say all the career statistics that you've compiled, they all still exist, still play for the Lakers still, and all of that still happens.
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If you finished your career without a championship, you would not have looked at that as a failure.
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No, I would have looked at it as being extremely disappointed, because I had a dream and I had goals that I wanted to accomplish.
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Right?
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And if I don't accomplish those goals, I have to ask myself why right?
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So from my position, the reason why I would not have accomplished those things is poor leadership, failure to communicate properly with my teammates, to put them in positions to be successful, lack of preparation.
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You know, all those things would be reasons why I don't win right.
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So now, if that was the case in my career, I have to sit and I have to analyze that, and then as I move and I evolve you know, post-basketball, into business or whatever, those same weaknesses are going to reveal themselves there, right.
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So if I don't learn from that, I'm going to struggle here too right.
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So if I don't learn from that, I'm gonna struggle here too right.
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So I can take those situations and learn from those and have them, you know, make me a better person later in life.
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But if I don't take that stuff and apply that someplace else, then that is that's failing, which, to me, is the worst possible thing you could ever have is to stop and to not learn.
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So Kobe has created.
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