Failure Is a Matter of Time
Today, I saw a news headline that read... “18 Times Celebs Just Straight Up Failed This Year”.
I immediately thought... “Awesome! What are they doing now?”
The majority of us associate negative emotions with failing. Until you change the emotions associated with failing to positive ones, you will have difficulty staying motivated to reach any goal you set.
I developed a couple of beliefs over the years, and these beliefs have gotten me through some challenging hurdles in life.
My beliefs about failure are...
Failure is dependent on time.
Failure only happens when you give up.
It is highly likely (even guaranteed) that you will have setbacks when working toward a goal. The key to reaching any goal is flexibility. The more flexibility you have, the more momentum you create to reach your goal. When one approach doesn’t work, then you take a different approach. If that approach doesn’t work, then you take a different approach. If that approach doesn’t work, then you take a different approach.
Do you see the pattern?
When you realize that all barriers to your goal are just a signal that you need to be flexible and design a new approach, failure becomes a learning experience... you’ve learned a way that will not get you to your goal.
By being flexible with your approach and consistently moving toward your goal, you can only fail if you give up. In other words, you can only fail if you have a hard deadline on your goal. Sometimes hard deadlines are necessary, such as when you have an article due to your editor by the end of the day or your dissertation needs to be ready by August 17th. With hard deadlines such as these, you can indeed fail if the hard deadline passes.
Most humans, however, set goals for things such as losing weight, learning a new language, or overcoming their anxiety. These are goals that don’t have a hard deadline. When someone claims failure when they are still at the same weight a month after starting their plan, this is not a failure... it’s giving up. Change your approach, and find out if the new way succeeds at dropping some pounds. If you still weigh the same a month later, change your approach again.
You’re not failing; you’re learning.
I didn’t get to where I am today because everything was handed to me — just the opposite. I’ve had great times, tough times, and extremely difficult times. Over the last 30 years, I have discovered countless ways that did not move me closer to my goals. I even found some ways that set me back a year or two.
By keeping my focus on my goals and consistently adjusting my approach when things started to drift, I have been able to turn some amazing dreams into realities. You can do this too!
