Babe Ruth once said, “don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” Why are we so afraid failure? Don’t we know that it’s human?
As people, we don’t handle failure well. And when we do fail, we don’t let it go. The memory of it sits there in our minds consuming our thoughts and derailing us from the good things in life. Take it from someone who’s been there. Someone who has let the failures in life take away from all the positive, amazing things that were waiting to be discovered.
Here are some tips to consider when you fail:
1) Separate you from the failure. You are not a failure. You just didn’t succeed (yet) at this one task, or at this one event. Think about all the incredible things you can do and focus on them. Failure does not define who you are. If you think you are a failure, you will act like a failure. Your self-esteem will be negative and your motivation will be low. Babe Ruth once held the record for the most strikeouts. Now he is known as a baseball hall of fame legend. Don’t let your failure keep you from reaching your potential.
2)Think about it… To learn from your failure, you must reflect on it. Think about the situation and analyze what step brought you to this point. Did you make the wrong decision? Did you not study? Did you do something you knew in your gut was wrong? If you can trace the cause of the failure you can start to fix it. When Thomas Edison failed to make a light bulb 10,000 times, he kept learning from each failure, saying, “I have found 10,000 ways something won’t work. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.” Learn from your mistakes and help them guide you to a victory in the future.
3)… but don’t dwell on it. Stop obsessing over your failures. Think about the positive things in life and how to fix it for the future. Don’t sweat the little things. You have so much more to do and you can do it! Remember that failure is human, and we all fail at some point in our lives. Pick yourself up and try again tomorrow. Get some sleep. Wake up refreshed and with a positive outlook.
4) Stop caring about what others think. Shake off the haters! You do you! Stop caring what other people think. You do not live your life for them. Never forget that you are an amazing, unique person. You’re beautiful and powerful regardless of your past or what anyone else thinks. Your failures do not and will not define you. Pick yourself up and hold your head high. If people want to bring you down, that’s their problem, because you are too awesome to deal with their negativity. Let the haters hate, and you just “shake ‘em off!”
You can do this. Your failures will not run your life. You’re awesome and you were made for greatness.
Thumbnail image via Marla Cummins