Graphite pencil
“Nude?! Humans have no shame . .. “
Sara Blakely’s embrace of failure has helped make her the youngest self-made female billionaire in America. She invented Spanx (body-shaping undergarments – the modern version of the corset and girdle).
When she was growing up, her father would often ask her the same question at dinnertime.
I was AGHAST – failure!? What a horrible father. Everyone knows we are supposed to focus on and revel in success. She went on to say:
“My dad growing up encouraged me and my brother to fail. The gift he was giving me is that failure is (when you are) not trying versus the outcome. It’s really allowed me to be much freer in trying things and spreading my wings in life.”
What a novel idea! Embrace failure as a sign of taking risks, learning and growing. Failure is a victory not a defeat.
“The fact that I had never taken a business class, had no training, didn’t know how retail worked,” she said. “I wasn’t as intimidated as I should have been.”
I read her interview just before my life drawing class. It was liberating!! I gave myself permission to fail at trying to draw perfect likeness, perfect proportions, perfect shading.
Graphite Pencil Sketches
She never fails to confound me . . .
