Eliminate Failure from your Life
When I was young, I was the epitome of the word failure. A loser. A freak. Sub-plant life. Or so I was told. I looked up failure in the dictionary. There was a picture of me.
Hearing this over, and over, and over endlessly – I believed it. I knew I was a failure. Everything I tried came to a terrible, sometimes embarrassing end. My efforts were lackluster, to say the least. Sometimes I refused to put in any effort at all.
The negativity associated with failure is a terribly debilitating disease.
This affected every aspect of my life. To say I was lazy was like saying Mt Everest is a molehill. I had no driving interests, no passion for the wonder of life. No interest in improving myself. No vision for the future and no goals. I was sure I had no future. I hated myself and I hated my life.
It took years to get beyond all of that garbage. Starting with one success, I began to see and understand some of the reasons I was able to make it work. Learning more about the things I stumbled across, such as visualization, affirmation, positivity, reading and writing for self-improvement, I found that successful people do many of them naturally or make regular habits of them. I realized that I had spent the better part of 20 years visualizing defeat and embracing and believing negativity.
But is failure really necessary? Do we even have to experience “un-success” as a failure at all? I don’t think so. The only true failure is when all hope has been crushed for any success, in any area of life. And all effort to try anything has been given up. Anything short of that is simply a bump in the road that serves to point us in the right direction.
From my perspective now, there is no such thing as failure. All your experiences are exactly what you need to learn and improve. Nothing happens by chance. Everything that you do and all that occurs in your life are meant for your good and can be used as stepping stones toward your goals. I know now that my life leading up to what I saw as my first success was absolutely necessary to teach me many lessons.
How do you eliminate failure from your mindset and your life experience?
Here’s how in 5 steps:
1) Reframe experience
What you now consider a failure, see as a learning experience – a redirection – and be thankful for it. This is the key to eliminating failure, but possibly the most difficult. It cannot be done without incorporating the other methods below.
2) Find your purpose
Based on your values and your passion, contemplate your purpose. We are all here for a reason. Deep down, you most certainly already know. You need to uncover that reality and determine to follow it. Stop wasting time operating outside of your purpose, passion, and values.
3) Eliminate negativity
Remove negative thoughts. Know that you will reach your goals based on your purpose and passion. Avoid negative influences. Don’t complain, take action (see below).
4) Visualize success
See yourself succeeding. Savor the results, the satisfaction.
5) Take bold action
There is nothing to fear. If an action doesn’t work out, redirect and take another.
I no longer believe in failure. I believe in redirection, refinement, restoration. And ultimately, success.
~ Kevin Conklin
