No one wants to fail in life. Failure is a very real reality in most people’s story. Failure is a motivator. When you feel like you didn’t make the mark, missed an opportunity or messed up, it’s through the failing moment that you realize what you need to fix, regroup, or revamp. So let’s learn how to use failure as a motivator!
Biggest Failure to Date
I’m finding it hard to figure out which is my worst failure to date. It could be in some of the men I dated that didn’t work out. It could be making horrible money decisions that lead to embarrassing outcomes. It could be failing a test in college. Whatever the failure it makes you grow up fast. I’ve mismanaged money and had a car repossessed. I’ve kissed a frog or two and ended with heartbreak! Either way I learned what I needed or didn’t need. Its a lesson I am grateful for.
Breaking Down Leads to Redemption
Since I knew what failure was and had experienced it too many times, I also know that it can change you. When you get into trouble and you’re worried if the trouble you’re in will be redeemed, I look to my “worse” failure. The type of failure a checkbook couldn’t always fix. The type of failure where parents can’t always save the day! Failure let me know not to make them again but that regardless of everyone knowing about it or whispering, there is always redemptive power! Failure boost my knowledge of its redemption. Remember the blog on Failure and Balance?
Second and Sometimes Third Chances
It’s not a one and down. I know it feels like all hope is lost. I’ve felt like slime on the bottom of a shoe many days. The days I went to apply for a job only to say I wasn’t qualified or I just didn’t get it. That feeling like “I’ll never get another chance” is fleeting. Life circles back to give us the boost that we need. At that moment of quitting the second and third tier grace kicks in. Sometimes it takes more times to get it right. It’s never how you start but how you finish that matters!
Losing is not Forever
If feeling like a failure is forever was a person it would look sad all the time as well as someone who had lost hope! I used to feel like that. The overwhelmed feeling of being in the “dumps” overtakes your mindset. It shows up in how we treat ourselves. Hope is dashed. However you’re not a failure forever. You can definitely make good choices and turn your life around. You can turn failure into triumph. You just have to desire it and work hard. So although it feels like it will, failure is not forever! It won’t last!
Failure as the Motivator
When you fail you realize you either have to tweak the plan or find a new one altogether! When I failed at basically being a good steward of my finances, I realized I was obviously living above my means. I had to get a second job. I had to work hard but I ended up getting a new car. That embarrassment was too much so I learned to be on top of my finances. It motivated me to never let that happen again. It’s the motivation to this day to take care of bills before their due date! It motivated me to be better and for the better! Failure has a way of motivating the good into you.
So here are a few reminders:
- Failure isn’t forever or final-get up and try again
- Lack of success makes you smarter because it teaches you to make better decisions
- Losing is inevitable even when you make good decisions things don’t always align
- Fail at trying instead of failing to try you owe it to yourself
IF you’re not convinced you can listen to me tell you via the podcast, Conversations with Toi, about failure more in depth here!
