You haven’t truly failed until you give up completely.
Have you ever tried over and over again to achieve something you deeply desire but have never quite reached the finish line? Do you occasionally feel that there are no options left? Are you sometimes fighting with that voice in your mind that tells you there’s just no point anymore? At times, giving up may seem like the easy option, but I guarantee it won’t make you happy.
To me, the only time you have really failed yourself is when you throw in the metaphoric towel and give up (well, actually, never starting a goal which you know can bring you happiness could be deemed failure too – failure to even begin). To help you overcome that negative, irrational voice in your head that prays on your at vulnerable times with self-defeating stories, I have compiled a list. It is a list I am hoping will armour you with coping strategies and reasons you should never resort to giving up ever again.
- Failure Defined – Failure is not having a fall, making a mistake, or losing direction. Failure is choosing not to get back onto your feet or back onto the right track i.e. giving up. All the genius’s in this world failed hundreds, if not thousands, of times before they tasted success. Avoid focusing on the unsuccessful attempts; instead, use them as stepping stones to pave your road to gold.
- Don’t Expect it to be Easy – Good things take time, and patience! Just because you aren’t at your ultimate destination yet doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. People who have success never quit; they keep trying; they keep brainstorming, and they maintain focus on the end goal. Obstacles that launch themselves at you are there for a reason, and that is to find out how badly you really want something.
- Ongoing Education – When one idea fails, you must learn and grow with it. Life always offers you a second (or third, or hundredth) chance, but taking another chance is pointless if you cannot apply the wisdom you gained from the last chance you had. Take the opportunity to learn on the job, re-affirm a positive attitude, and re-apply your efforts at a new angle.
- Seek Growth in Pain – What doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger. Often in life we must take a step back before taking two steps forward. The body has an immaculate an innate ability to repair itself. Allow it to do what comes naturally, and stand stronger than ever before.
- Keep it Simple – Don’t overcomplicate your dreams. Too often we over-think and over-analyse our lives and the various situations we find ourselves in. If you have a fall, go back to square on, and create a new approach. Simplify your greatest goals and ambitions and you’ll automatically be closer to reaching success. One day soon you’ll have created the right ideas and the right solutions that will give you your victory – and they’ll be simpler than you ever anticipated.
- Perspective is Everything – We all look at and perceive life differently. If you think you have tripped over an obstacle, or stumbled across a problem, then that is life from your perspective. Alter how you read the circumstances life presents to you. Reframing your thoughts in a more positive way will cultivate motivation and lay the foundations for another, more successful, attempt at success.
- Nobody’s Perfect – Become a little more care-free and relaxed. Reduce expectation and go with the flow. Life was meant to be enjoyed, not to be a mundane or stressful chore. Not everything in life will go the way you hope or expect it to. Find some joy in the ride, and laugh about the realities.
- Tough Times are Normal – We all have good days and we all have bad days. Nobody has been dished a rougher deal than anybody else. We all experience times of struggle and heart-ache, but it’s the dark days that make the good days shine. The satisfaction of victory will always over-ride all doom and gloom. Life can be likened to a piano – the white keys denote happiness and the black keys represent difficulty. But together they create a beautiful melody.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill.
