Updated October 2026. I first wrote this post in 2013. Thirteen years later, I still live by it.
Carpe Diem! Seize the Day
What a great rallying cry on a Monday morning. What a great way to start your day or the beginning of your project. Yes! Today will be a success!
The enemy of “seize the day” is procrastination. Soon after you cry out “Carpe Diem,” something catches your eye like a shiny object. Oh, I have a comment on Facebook! Hey, that guy wants to connect on LinkedIn! Just a quick response and then I’ll seize the day. All of a sudden it’s lunchtime. Procrastination has done its job. Tomorrow I’ll seize the day!
I was channel surfing one night when I came across a show about a very old man climbing a mountain in Antarctica. I missed the first part of the show, and by this point he was already struggling high on the mountain. There was an interview with the cameraman, who was going through a moral dilemma: should he drop his camera and help the others save this man, or do his job and keep recording the story as it played out?
Norman Vaughan made it to the top of the 10,302-foot mountain that bears his name. He was three days shy of his 89th birthday. At the top he was greeted with hugs, tears, and relief, and then he yelled out his mantra: “Dream Big and Dare to Fail!”
Vaughan was no ordinary man. He was accepted as a member of the 1928–1930 Byrd Antarctic Expedition. Admiral Byrd was so taken by his skills that he named the peak after Vaughan.
There isn’t enough room in this story to list all of his accomplishments. I will say that he lived a full life, and at the age of 68 he moved to Alaska, where he competed in the Iditarod sled dog race 13 times. Do the math.
Dare to Fail
Dream Big and Dare to Fail. What has stood out to me the most is “Dare to Fail.” Anyone can seize the day. Anyone can make a bucket list. Anyone can write a mission statement. Not everyone can stare down failure and still move forward.
When I first wrote this, my son was 10 years old and one of the smartest kids I knew. The only thing holding him back was the fear of failure. If he didn’t think he would succeed at something, he wouldn’t do it. He wasn’t alone. Other parents told me the same thing about their children.
Whenever he was in a funk or wouldn’t move forward with an assignment or goal, I took him down to my workshop. On one of the cabinet doors, I had stapled a page from a 1995 issue of Men’s Health. It showed a saluting Norman Vaughan, his face framed by a fur-lined hood.
I told him about Norman Vaughan’s adventures: climbing the mountain that bears his name, becoming a polar explorer, competing in the 1932 Winter Olympics, and a host of other achievements.
I also told him about Vaughan’s failures. He was married four times, after all. When he moved to Alaska, he was bankrupt. Those setbacks may have slowed him down, but they didn’t stop him. He kept moving forward.
Is Failure Holding You Back?
You probably already have big dreams. They’re part of your bucket list or your personal mission statement. Now think about the projects you can’t seem to finish. Do you wish you had another career, but you can’t leave the one you have because it pays too well? What roadblocks are keeping you from getting where you want to be?
Maybe you’re just scared you will fail.
Procrastination may have you in its grip today, but tomorrow is a new day. Instead of waking up and thinking “Seize the day,” think “Dare to fail.” It’s time to push through, have the job you want, and be the person you’re supposed to be. It worked for my son. It will work for you.
Thirteen Years Later
Norman Vaughan never stopped dreaming big. He planned to climb his mountain again to celebrate his 100th birthday. He died in December 2005, just days after turning 100, still planning his next adventure.
My son is 24 now. He graduated from college and works for a major consulting firm in Atlanta. The boy who wouldn’t try what he wasn’t sure he could do grew into a young man who dares to fail. I couldn’t be prouder.
As for me, “Dare to Fail” has never left the back of my mind. It has nudged me toward chances I might otherwise have passed up, and it has served me well. I hope it does the same for you.