As the decade winds down and the Christmas festivities are in full swing, it is quite easy to get caught up in the business of the season. While I am all for partaking in every Christmas tradition and spending all day watching Hallmark movies, let's not forget that the decade is almost over!

If you have been waiting for the perfect timing, forget that notion and get on it! There is no better time than right now. The end of a decade is as close as you can get to perfect timing so go for it. Sign up for that class you've been putting off. Apply for the job of your dreams. Start the business you've had brewing in your head for months now. Now is the time and if you fail, at least you took the risk and put in the effort. And the good thing about failing is that you find ways that don't work.

Thomas Edison's famous quote, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work," is the way we need to see our past, present, and future endeavors. Changing your perception changes your perspective. It's up to you to change it, positively or negatively.

In the book 'Mindset' by Carol Dweck, she talks about the two kinds of mindsets there are. There is the growth mindset and fixed mindset. The growth mindset is based on "the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help from others." The fixed mindset is "believing that your qualities are carved in stone [which] creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over." Those who cultivate the fixed mindset are concerned so much with the outcome and what they will look like if they fail.

Dweck explains, "if you only have a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character- well, then you'd better prove that you have a healthy dose of them." That's what becomes of those stuck in the fixed mindset, the constant proving of self. However, the downfall of this mindset is that when you are constantly consumed with proving yourself, failure seems like the end of the world. In a mindset that gives you worth based on success, you'll find yourself never feeling enough and too afraid to risk trying something new.

Don't be stuck in the fixed mindset. Don't let the idea of failure deter you from taking the risk you've been wanting to. Use the end of this decade as an excuse to take that leap of faith!