This was an interesting book. I like the idea of shooting for the moon, even if failure is the result. I would have found the book more beneficial if Ryan had attempted to achieve, not the NBA, but a dream that he expected to achieve and failed. Attempting something big with nothing to lose does teach certain things and gives a person a sense of accomplishment, but I feel that there are more valuable lessons in failing when you have everything to lose.

I don’t know how to categorise this book because this is definitely a self help book to me. It’s a part memoir and could be called a fiction even a non fiction book.

Ryan mentioned that this book is the fifth edition of Chasing Failure. So, here at least he’s not asking or giving advice how to achieve lifetime goals or success but to chase failure. The more you try to chase your failures the more steps you’re taking forward to your success. This is all this book is about.

Failure can be a good thing it can help us pivot when our dreams aren’t quite right or it can help us buckle down and get better to reach that success.

Definitely a worth read. You can even reread this often. I’m definitely gonna read again when I’ll be needing a bit motivation.

Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank you @NetGalley and @ThomasNelson for the #arc in exchange of an honest review.

Overall, I think this is executed well and has an excellent concept! This book seems to turn our most common fear, fear of failure, upside down! Such a motivating perspective, how we learn the most from failing, so we should reframe and embrace the lessons failure teaches us.

The author has quite a few anecdotes sprinkled through, most of them personal, which helps demonstrate and embody his teaching. This book has a great balance of motivation, empowering readers, encouraging hard work and being proactive with feedback and criticisms, with an underlying Biblical and Christian perspective.
I highly recommend!

Some key concepts I learned and wanted to share (spoiler alert):
-the technical term for the fear of failure is atychiphobia
-"Failure awareness"- the concept that awareness of possible failure, tends to discourage us from trying. Young children are often not aware of failure, which is seen time and time again as they learn to walk, to speak, etc. without fear.
-The distance between our dreams and realities is intimidating. We often talk ourselves out of dreaming!
-failure is an event, not an identity!
-we need to refocus on what we dream for, not what others tell us to dream
-we need to be comfortable failing by trying, rather than failing by not trying
-the author writes quite a bit about pro-basketball and what we can learn from these athletes. To quote Kobe Bryant:
“Everything negative - pressure,
challenges - is all an opportunity for me
to rise."
-to quote Thomas Edison-
How did it feel to fail 1,000times?” Edison
replied,“ I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light
bulb was an invention with 1,000steps.”
-consider having a partner to keep you accountable through life's challenges - an "accountability partner"
-we should refocus on "chasing failure" over "chasing success". We will find our successes faster! Early failures help us find our true passions and allow us to "find our sweet spot"
-"phantom discouragement"- a ten encompassing how shame is triggered when we see other people getting complimented
-empathy is the antidote to shame!
-criticisms are helpful but we should evaluate them. Are they accurate?
-"rejection therapy"-getting more comfortable with rejection

I highly recommend this book! This will be one that I buy, re-read and share many times!

I really enjoyed the message portrayed in this story! The stories that went along, only made the advice stronger. This was a very quick and enjoyable read and this would be a great recommendation for anybody to read!

I think it’s important that we reframe the societal norms around failure and shame. Loved the NBA anecdote. Thought the book was straight to the point and the authors voice was casual.

Loved this book on his story and it was super motivational. Would recommend it to others! The summary really intrigues you to want to know more