Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a commencement speech at a USC graduation where he outlined the 6 rules of success.

You can find the entire transcript here.  In this speech he very succinctly and accurately outlines these rules to succeed by and he stress one in particular as the key.  I would highly recommend giving it a listen and a read.   

To summarize his speech the 6 rules are:

1. Trust yourself
2. Break the rules
3. Don’t be afraid to fail
4. Don’t listen to the naysayers
5. Work like hell
6. Give something back

There are so many success stories that stem not from failing, but from being willing to fail.  If you are paralyzed by being afraid to fail you never know what you will miss.  Being afraid to take a chance and fail limits our effort, drive, and creates an “out” that we can incorrectly blame our failure on.  Accepting that failing is an option allows you to dedicate yourself fully to your goal and assure that failing doesn’t happen.  It is a great motivator.  Look at the list of individuals that are viewed as great success stories and their failures:

• A band was told by numerous record companies that “we don’t like your sound” and “guitar music is not popular”. 
  • The band was The Beatles.
• Was cut from his high school basketball team and locked himself in his room and cried. 
  • The athlete was Michael Jordan
• Was told he was too stupid to succeed. 
  • The man was Thomas Edison.
• Was told he had no original ideas and was fired from a newspaper job. 
  • The man was Walt Disney.
• Failed twice in business endeavors, had a nervous breakdown, and lost 8 elections. 
  • The man was Abraham Lincoln.

You are capable of greatness.  Don’t be afraid of that.  Don’t believe or listen to anyone that says otherwise.  Know what you want and work for it.  Don’t expect “easy”.  Take chances.  Push yourself and your vision of who you are.  Be willing to not only work at it, but work harder than anything or anyone else to earn it. It is ok to succeed.  It is ok to explore your goals and forge avenues of success.  It is ok to be great.  If you take one thing from this post take this quote from the speech;

“No rules for anything will work unless you do.”

Focus on yourself, your goals, and your success.  Work harder than anyone else.  To succeed there is no way around hard work.