Failure Can Be Your Friend

Failure can be one of the best things that ever happened to you, if you allow it to be.

When I began playing sports, learning how to fall was one of the the most important lessons that was taught to me by my coaches. My coach taught me techniques that would help me protect myself from injury when falling down. As falling at some point is a part of playing sports.

Similarly, in life, falling is inevitable. Like it or not at some point if we try something new or do something long enough we will fail or have setbacks. When we step our of our comfort zone, things won’t always turn out how we desire. This is a fact no matter how talented or dedicated we may be.

Unfortunately, often in life we are not taught how to fall. Having a healthy perspective on failure will allow us to become wiser, more efficient, resilient, and have a competitive advance because of our experiences.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you have failed or have had a setback:

1. Flogging ourselves for failure is a waste of time. It saps our strength and vitality and makes it hardwork to learn and grow from our experiences. Accept yourself for who you are including your experiences.

2. Don't point fingers. When people fail, they are often tempted to blame others for their lack of success. By pointing figures,mentally we put our fate to the hand of outsiders. People rob themselves of learning from failure and alienate others by refusing to take responsibility for their part mistakes.

3. See failure as temporary. People who personalize failure see a problem as a hole they are permanently stuck in, whereas achievers see any predicament as temporary. One mindset is to wallow in failure, the other looks forward to success.

4. Bounce back. Thinking about missteps and blunders too long sabotage concentration and eats away at self-confidence. When dealing with failure, achieves have short memories. They quickly forget the negative emotions of setbacks and press forward resiliently.

The great hall of famer and basketball great Michael Jordan once said:

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games; 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed"

If we learn from the times we face setbacks and challenges, then failure will be another steppingstone to our success along our journey.

Questions to Ponder:

In your life, what have you learned from the times you have failed?

How can you capitalize these experiences?

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