What if failure is the goal?

So I was working out at Orangetheory the other day, the coach/trainer instructing us on what we’d be doing during the weight floor portion of the workout. He said to use heavy weights because “Failure is the goal.”

I spent all of my treadmill time that workout pondering failure. I get failure in the workout sense of the word: you challenge yourself to use weights so heavy that you can’t possibly complete all the repetitions in the set.

Working to failure means giving it all. Leave nothing in the tank. Save nothing for later. Just do it.  Be afraid and do it anyway. 

I thought about what failure means for writers. Seems counterintuitive to start out aiming for failure. The goal is to write something good! Why aim for failure when failure is the biggest fear?

 Here’s how I decided to interpret it: We do the best we can. Our very best. Without saving something for later. Without worrying about what might happen. Put it in the page. Don’t worry about it. Just do it. Be afraid and do it anyway. 

And here’s why working to failure works: We’re never done working out, right? We don’t do X number of workouts and then we’re done. The whole point is to keep working out, to keep getting stronger and faster. There’s no end to it. The only way to get stronger is to lift heavier weights, and the only way to know how heavy is to be unable to complete the set because they’re so heavy.. 

The only way to write something good is to write. We’re never really done. The whole point is to write to be able to edit and revise and make better. The only way to get better is to keep working on it. So why not just write something? 

And do it again the next day. 

So try aiming for failure. Make failure the goal. Just do it. Be afraid and do it anyway.