Failing

News
No new updates for this week.

Quote
 “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.”
-Michael Jordan

My Thoughts
As we get older people tend to think that they shouldn't fail. Failure is looked at as bad. Even taking risks is discouraged. I am not going to get into the reasons why I think this is with this week's message. Perhaps I'll do that at another time.

This week, I just want to remind everyone that failure is a part of life. No one succeeds 100% of the time. No one.

In my own life, I've failed numerous times. In the last few years with my own business I nearly went bankrupt, actually if it wasn't for the support of some loving friends I would have gone bankrupt. I've failed before in other areas as well (weight lifting goals, education goals, etc...).

The point though is that I kept trying. I picked myself up and kept going.

How do I deal with setbacks and failure?

The first thing to look at is do you have a goal? Were you working towards some specific target? If so, then how much progress have you made?

If you've made some progress, if you are even slightly closer to your goal then you've made progress. Congrats. Greatness doesn't happen overnight.

If you've made absolutely no progress towards your goal, then it may be time to reevaluate your goal. What caused you to not make progress? What was your reason for setting the goal in the first place?

These are just some questions to look at.

Finally be careful with wording. You don't actually fail at something until you completely stop pursuing it. Everything else is really just a setback. Do not beat yourself up too much for "failing", it's all part of the learning process.

As 2012 draws to a close, I encourage you to look over the last year. What have you achieved? What would you like to have achieved? What will you do next year?