It’s probably not great to have FAILURE on the brain with Marathon #13 coming up on Sunday, but if there’s anything that I’ve learned in my 4+ years of health coaching (and 28+ years of failing on my own), it’s to Love Your Failures.
Um… what?
And… why?
#1) There is success in every failure. Yes, friends, I said success. From every failure we learn. We learn what doesn’t work, we learn that something is missing, we learn that the goal needs tweaking, and sometimes, we learn that what we’ve been working for may not be what we really want.
#2) Failure shows us what we don’t want. How many times have you set a goal, thinking: “I need to do this,” or “I should do that”? Sometimes we set goals towards things we don’t really want and failing gives us the opportunity to reevaluate and get on the right path.
#3) We fear failure when we go after what we really want. We fear failure when our goals our important and life changing and when they’re a big deal. And those big-deal-goals are awesome! It takes courage to shoot for the moon!
#4) It’s better to aim high and fall short than to never try and stay the same. I love the quote: “I’d rather regret the things I did, than those I did not do,” because that’s exactly how I feel. I’d rather try something and fail miserably, than spend the rest of my life tortured by “what if?”
Pretend like I know what I’m talking about for a minute…
When we focus solely on our fears, we get distracted from the awesome potential outcomes of our goals. And so, to me, the challenge isn’t to love our failures or overcome fear; the challenge is to keep our sights fixed on the finish-line and those awesome potential outcomes.
Next post… Awesome stories of Success in Failure!
What is your best failure?
Love this! We have similar bents in our writing, but you’re on the road and I’m in the kitchen! Your stuff is fun to read, keep it up! See you in the next Alchemy:)