Every four years, we are honored with the Winter Olympics. Have you ever watched figure skating competitions?
I wanted to avoid watching them for years because I always felt bad for the contestants who fell.
The whole world just watched them go from a gold medal to no man's land on the scorecard.
But then I would see the same competitors four years later, trying again. And more often than not, their technique had improved, scoring higher than ever.
These people are brave. They got up, brushed off, went back to the drawing board and tried again. They learned from their mistakes and moved on to try again and succeed.
Keeping your motivation fresh
Success is not always immediate. There may be years between now and your idea of success, and it is difficult to maintain your motivation. It's hard to keep running when you can't even see the finish line. You have to remind yourself daily where you want to be. Have you ever heard affirmations?
Sometimes people find it comforting to remember what they're working on each day. Anything that helps you find your motivation!
Learning from the past
If you failed to achieve your goals in the past, you can resolve to achieve them in the future. If you remember where you went wrong, you can apply that knowledge the second time around. Steve Jobs was not an immediate success and yet he kept coming back and trying again. At least the second time around you'll have a little more know-how and know what to look for.
I believe it was Edison who said, "I didn't fail 10,000 times, I just found 10,000 ways that didn't work." This is the right attitude to have.
Sometimes the right path happens by accident
Did you know that Ivory Soap was invented by accident? All because a soap maker forgot to turn off the mixer and more air than usual was forced into the batch, resulting in floating soap.
It was an overnight success, and it happened by accident. How do you know your next mistake won't be your greatest achievement?
Don't count on failure turning into success, but know that just because you don't see the solution now doesn't mean it's not right around the corner.
This should not be considered a 'failure'
Just because you failed at something doesn't mean you failed per se. You can think of it as just trying something that didn't work out the way you had hoped. You only truly fail at something if you give up on it. Tracking your goal means you're always on the hunt.
You can't succeed if you don't try and you can't fail if you never quit.
Fearlessness is a badge of honor
When you keep trying to achieve your goal after “failed” attempts, you become more and more numb to the hurt that comes with it. You already know what happens when it doesn't work. You are well aware of how you feel. But you continue anyway. It takes courage and shows everyone that you are a determined person and that nothing can bring you down.
For some, failure is not an option. But sometimes failure is a milestone that inevitably leads to success. Most important of all is to absorb each experience and learn from each one. You will never succeed if you give up the moment you face an obstacle. Keep going, and maybe you'll find that moment in your life when you can finally say "I did it".
Now that you've started to overcome the fear of failure, you should read these tips that will show you 7 ways to stop looking in your rear view mirror and focus on the new road ahead.
Photo credit :Chris Griffith
