This blog comes to you from 35,996ft above sea level, in a plane, somewhere above the Atlantic. I am on my way back home from Switzerland, where we celebrated my dad’s 70^th birthday. It was a lovely family gathering and I feel very blessed that I got to be a part of it.

I really enjoy traveling and the opportunities it presents for new experiences and new connections. For example, on my way to Switzerland, I sat next to an older gentleman. He was traveling from the US to Ukraine and only spoke Russian. I tried to help him out the best I could when his meal came without silverware or when he explained—using universal body language —that he needed to know where the restrooms were. Our flight out of Denver was 2 hours delayed, so instead of spending “just” 10 hours on the plane, we got to sit next to each other for an entire 12 hours.

Due to the delay, almost all the passengers on the plane missed their connecting flights. Well, my 5 words of Russian were not going to be enough to explain that to Grandpa Kiev, as I endearingly called him in my mind. I wrote down his new flight number and departure time. He kept showing me his original itinerary so clearly, I was not being successful at communicating the change.

As we were getting off the plane, I spotted a family that I had overheard speaking in Russian at the Denver airport. I asked them if they could help Grandpa Kiev out and make sure he understood what was going on. And they gladly did! Yay! A happy end for my travel buddy matchmaking (if that’s even a thing…?)!

Pat Parelli says that frustration begins where knowledge ends. True that! Even though I speak several languages – 6 ½ of them – I find it somewhat frustrating when I can’t understand or speak a language. Yet, I consider myself extremely lucky to get to mix and mingle with and between different cultures. Getting to live in the US and getting to travel back to Switzerland and Europe for work or to see friends and family is an utter privilege.

While in Switzerland, I got to ski, snowboard, catch up with long-lost friends, canter throught he snow bareback, share the Parelli Program with eager students and willing horses, talk about my time as Pat Parelli’s Protégée during a Parelli Get Together, go sledding with my sisters and relax at the hot springs, and, and, and.

One of these days, I would like to invite you to join me on a horsey journey of discovery in Europe! Who would be up for that?

I also went through my belongings in my storage unit and found an old diary. I was just reading it and was reminded of some wise words I heard on a podcast: “Improvement at anything is based on thousands of tiny failures and the magnitude of your success is based on how many times you fail at something.”

If someone is better than you at something, it’s probably because they have failed it more than you have. And if somebody is worse at something than you are, it’s probably because they have not been through all of the painful learning experiences that you have.

Think of a child who is learning to walk. He doesn’t give up on it saying “Oh, I guess I’m just not that good at walking…” At some point, most of us reach a point where we are afraid to fail, where we instinctively avoid failure. So, we end up doing only what we are already good at. This confines us. We can only be truly successful at something that we are willing to fail at. If we are unwilling to fail, then we are unwilling to succeed.

Reading in my diary about my trials and tribulations as Pat Parelli’s Protégée back in 2012 reminded me of this attitude. It was actually quite entertaining to read my own words, to be reminded of how Pat was not pleased with his mare’s progress while he had been out of town. Or that time when I accidentally deleted some of his Pandora stations. Or when I forgot to pack his favorite lariat rope for his trip to Brazil. Or when during a cutting show, I quit a cow 2 seconds before the time was up—on my own account, without him telling me to and therefore didn’t score very high. I will share more of those stories with you in another blog.

The pay-off of all these failures has gotten me to where I am now (on a plane LOL). On a more serious note, the diary also talks about lots, and I mean LOTS of early mornings and late nights. As Pat Parelli says, get up early, stay up late!

As a Parelli Professional, I like to give my students the license to experiment, which in essence is a permission to fail. If one approach doesn’t work, try another one. If you are not getting the desired answer from your horse, ask yourself, if you are asking the right question OR, are you asking the question right!?

It is not a mistake if you don’t know any better. So, go ahead and dare to fail! For it’s all those failures that will lead you to success! Or, sign up for my long-distance Success Coaching Program!

Let’s find success together!

I would love to read about your travel experiences, your failures and successes below in the comments! Ready, set, go!