fail·ure
/ˈfālyər/
noun
lack of success.
Let's get this out of the way. Failure sucks. However, how you perceive it and move forward from it are key in enduring and living your life. So, do not give it more power than it deserves. 'Failure' is a noun and nothing more. It's going to occur repeatedly throughout life, and it may/will sting, but it is still just a NOUN!
“But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward."
-Rocky Balboa.
Professor Martin Covington, from the University of California, Berkeley, has a very clear depiction when it comes to understanding failure. He notes that as humans, "the fear of failure is directly related to our sense of self-worth." In fact, in reference to his studies, young and old alike reside within one of four failure subsets.
1. Success Oriented - you are an avid learner who observes failure to be nothing more than an opportunity for improvement.
2. Failure Avoidance - your expectations for success are minimal; moreover, your inner-fear of possible failure is so strong that you exert the least effort to simply blend in, in hopes of failure avoidance.
3. Failure Acceptance - you believe that the proverbial failure cloud lies just above your head at all times, and you have simply accepted this as your norm, making motivation for anything very difficult.
Workout 1 - Be Honest and Self-Reflect
A. Be honest and decide what subset you more often than not reside within the failure spectrum.
Workout 2 - Review Failure Realities
Workout 3 - Repeat After Me
When possible (and/or required) repeat the following mantra over and over and over . . .
For my sanity, I understand that I can only control what I can control! I'm going to strive to let go of what I CANNOT CONTROL!
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