How long did it take you to learn to walk?
How much time do you spend each
day beating yourself up over the fact that, when you first tried to walk, it took you (according to child development experts) over 200 tries to get it right?
Well, if you’re like most people, the answer is… zero. You don’t think about it all. Why would you have no feelings of inferiority over something that you literally sucked at for months on end until you finally got it right? There are two reasons:
1) Those first stuttering, stumbling “fear-filled” steps took place before you were too young to remember – you were probably less than a year old, and…
2) You finally got it right! You stayed with it, which turned all those “failures” into eventual success.
To prove the point, think about how different things would be if you had quit, and you found yourself where you are today – at your current age – unable to walk. Do you think you might feel a little silly?A bit inferior to everyone else around you?
We have all had failures in our lives. Not making the team. Being passed over for the big promotion. Not getting the guy or
girl. Starting a business that went down the tubes. And every one of these “failures” chips away at how we perceive ourselves, right? The answer is… yes and no.
It’s a ‘yes’ for some people – the ones who anguish over it repeatedly (see item #1 above) and quit before getting it right (see #2 above).
And it’s a ‘no’ for those who do the opposite – those who don’t relive the failure over and over again and who push forward until they finally achieve success, turning the “negative” experience into one of the most rewarding ‘wins’ of their lives. You see, it is NOT the failure that ultimately harms us. It is the way you have decided to interpret it. Some people see failure as a stepping stone on the path to success
(in our example, walking) while others see it as a roadblock. And some people find amazing joy in sticking with it and finally getting it right, while others sit on the carpet of life and watch with tears in their eyes as others hurry past.
In the end, it all comes down to what you choose to remember… and whether you quit before reaching success (see #1 and #2 above again if
necessary).
2015 is right around the corner. It's a chance to become someone who thinks more about your successes and dwells less on your ‘failures.’ Become someone who sticks-with-it-for-as-long-as-it-takes… until success appears and washes the sting of those failures away.
