Is Failure Fatal or the Ultimate Redirection for Good?

What if the thing you've been calling your biggest failure is actually the seed for your greatest success?

We've been trained to run from failure like it's a disease. To hide it. To pretend it didn't happen. But what if the dark ages of your life were actually forging you into exactly who you needed to become?

What This Episode Explores

George and Liz dig into the messiest topic most people avoid: failure. Not the inspirational poster version. The real kind. The 7 year dark periods. The divorces. The jobs lost. The directions abandoned. And somewhere in the wreckage, they find something unexpected: the seeds of everything that came after.

The Lessons That Matter

The Dark Ages Were By Design

George doesn't sugarcoat it. He calls it what it was.

"I had about a 7 year period that I should probably call the dark ages of my life because it's like failure, failure, failure."

The list: Dropping out of high school. Getting an honorable discharge from the Navy. Leaving Faith Ranch. Losing several jobs. Getting a divorce. Having no direction.

And what did failure mean to him back then?

"Failure meant that I was less than. Failure meant I was worthless. Failure meant I was a screw up. Not lovable, likable. I didn't think that the failures I had to go through would add any type of value to my life or others."

That was the old definition. Here's how it changed.

"Failure actually meant I was learning. During that 7 year dark age period, I was learning at hyper speed. Instead of having failures, I now call them life lessons or the ability to learn ways not to do things."

But it goes deeper than reframing.

"Failure also now means that I have ammo to help others in the future. I believe that many of the things I've gone through in life, these air quote failures, have actually been by design to be used as a tool to help others who cross my path."

For you: What if your dark ages were actually boot camp for your destiny?

From Trash to Treasure in 45 Minutes

George shares the moment everything shifted. A sermon called "Treasures in Trash Cans" by Pastor Dave Wright.

He tells the story of Kopi Luwak, one of the most expensive coffees in the world. The beans are eaten by a small animal, digested, and then, well, released. What comes out sells for hundreds of dollars a bag.

"One would think of it as trash. It becomes a treasure."

The sermon was full of examples like this. Trash becoming treasure through transformation. And somewhere in those 45 minutes, George had his realization.

"At the beginning of this 45 minutes, I would say that I felt like trash. By the end of this 45 minutes, I realized that I was a treasure."

He reframes it with one of his signature visuals.

"Our perceived failures are life's chisels, life's hammers being used to create the masterpiece that is us. My failures do not define who I am. How I learn from those failures and what I choose to do next does."

For you: What if you're not trash being discarded but a treasure being refined?

You Have Neosporin and Band-Aids

George introduces a metaphor that hits hard.

"You talked about wounds that we carry around. You realize that you have Neosporin and Band-Aids in your life. You realize that you can fix those wounds. They can be healed. You don't have to walk around this world with gaping holes in your life because you haven't taken the time to fix them."

This connects to something Liz shares. Her therapist told her: "You have to realize that the issues of abuse you have seen as in your past is very much in your present. This is not behind you. This is with you."

The wounds we don't heal travel with us. The failures we don't process become baggage we carry.

George's challenge: "If you're sitting here listening to this and you've been beating yourself up because of perceived failures, please do me a favor and heal. Take time to heal those. Use these words as medicine to move forward in a stronger, empowered way for the rest of your journey."

For you: What wounds are you carrying that need healing? What failures need processing instead of memorializing?

Stop Circling Mile Marker 657

George creates a visual that sticks.

"Your failure is a moment in time. It could be a 15 minute. It could be a 5 second out of the 40, 50, 80, 90 years of your life. Why in god's name are you making a memorial out of it?"

Then he takes it further.

"Why are you not just treating it like a mile marker of life and driving right on past it 55 or 65 miles an hour and heading on to the next piece, the next adventure, the final destination?"

And then the image that won't leave your head.

"Can you imagine how ridiculous that would look? You're on the freeway. You're driving down the road of life, and all of a sudden you see a car just going around mile marker 657. Just circling around 657. They can't leave it. They're just circling around it."

He lets that land.

"That's mentally what you're doing with the crap that you think you got wrong 7 years ago right now listening to this. Why?"

For you: What mile marker have you been circling? What would it look like to finally drive past it?

What's Worse Than Failure

George doesn't hesitate.

"Not trying, living small, staying safe. Those three things right there are worse than failure."

He shares the moment he and his wife decided to start his business. All the reasons to stay safe. Bills to pay. Kids to feed. Insurance. 401k. Everything the world says you should do.

"But I'll never forget when I said these words. Well, babe, I can always go back and get a job. What do I have to lose? What if this goes extremely amazing in a direction that we can't even fathom right now?"

He breaks down the framework.

"What do I have to lose?" Give yourself time to actually answer that. Usually, it's less than you think.

"What if?" Let yourself imagine the best case scenario, not just the worst.

"I think people give failure too much weight."

For you: What are you not trying because you're afraid to fail? What do you actually have to lose?

The Dog Trying to Be a Cat

Liz shares something that cuts deep.

"Some of the biggest and most painful failures I experienced in my life were born of the fact that I was chasing after things that never belonged to me. They were not supposed to be mine."

She uses an analogy that lands.

"A dog will have a 100% failure rate at trying to be a cat. Can't do it. But it's really good at being a dog."

Then she gets vulnerable.

"On paper this time last year I had a perfect life, and I was the most miserable, hollow, and alone I have ever been. I had never known such soul crushing anguish without shedding a tear or being able to articulate what it was because I had spent my entire life building a life that was not meant for me."

She had left no room for what she actually wanted because she was so afraid she wouldn't get it.

"I filled my life with stuff and with people and with things and with distractions that were not meant for me. And then I failed at a significant portion of it. But that's because I was a dog trying to be a cat instead of just being like the best dang dog I could possibly be."

For you: Are you failing at something because it was never meant for you in the first place?

The Bouncing Back Blueprint

George lays out what separates people who recover from failure from those who get stuck.

Grit. Courage and resolve. Strength of character. When you get punched in the face, you have two choices: get up or stay on the mat.

Learner's mindset. Learning from how you got knocked down so you can adjust the strategy for next time.

Forgiveness of yourself. The baggage is in your present because you brought it with you. Because you didn't set it down.

Patience. Letting the cake bake. Going through the process instead of rushing past it.

And then a framework he lives by:

"A healthy disbelief in chance and completely bought into certainty."

He breaks it down: I am statements to empower. I will statements to act. Not if, but when.

"Try, try again isn't really it. Try, feedback, learn, try again. The first one is a brick wall. The second is the open road."

For you: Which of these do you need most right now? Grit? Forgiveness? Patience? A new framework?

Quotable Moments

"Winning is great. Sure. But if you're really gonna do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time." — Wilma Rudolph

"My failures do not define who I am. How I learn from those failures and what I choose to do next does."

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." — Napoleon Hill

Your Next Move

George closes with a question that reframes everything: What would a life completely devoid of failure look like?

His answer: "It would be boring. I would feel like I'm stuck on mile marker 657 just going in a circle, not learning anything, not doing anything, not achieving anything. It would suck."

Then he ties it back to Napoleon Hill's quote about seeds.

"I wanna have failure moments in life so that I can collect the seeds, so that I can plant them and nourish them and benefit from the fruit of the tree and the shade of the tree."

Here's your assignment:

Make the list. Write down everything that's possible in your life because you failed at something. Not in spite of the failure. Because of it. See what emerges.

Heal the wound. Pick one failure you've been carrying like a badge of shame. Apply the Neosporin. Put on the Band-Aid. Start the healing.

Drive past the mile marker. Identify the failure you've been circling. The one you keep returning to. Decide today to keep driving.

Ask the questions. What do you have to lose? What if it goes amazingly? Actually sit with those. Actually answer them.

Check if you're a dog being a cat. Are you failing at something because it was never meant for you? Are you building a life that belongs to someone else?

Your failures are not your identity. They're your curriculum. They're the seeds for trees you haven't planted yet. Stop running from them. Start learning from them. And maybe, just maybe, start being grateful for them.

Ready to hear the full conversation? Press play above. George shares his 7 year dark ages, Liz gets vulnerable about the marriage she went back to twice, and together they redefine what failure actually means for your journey beyond your default.