Failure = Success.
I think this is worth retelling:
Why would I make such a statement? Because it’s true!
The truth is, actually, that there is no failure, remember? But for the sake of this conversation, we’ll use the word.
So failure is doing something and not having it work out, or turn out, as you expected. It can be going for a job interview and not getting it, starting to clean out the garage and not finishing it, beginning a relationship and having it end, maybe before it even really got started at all.
Your ability to allow yourself to fail absolutely defines and creates your ability to succeed. Here’s why…
When you lose the fear of failing and determine that you will stay focused on what you want, no matter what (possibly failing multiple times), you continue to move forward. With each ‘failure’ you gather further information; maybe an employer or a certain job takes a certification or some other training. Now you can take the new information and choose to either get what is needed, or choose to go in a different direction. Either way, you are choosing a solution, and moving forward! Maybe you determine that cleaning out the garage needs to be done in sections, allowing yourself more than one day, you create a ‘schedule’ to get it done; you create a better solution with the information that the ‘failure’ has given you. You will begin to align yourself to what you want. And this can be applied to many areas of your life.
Now I could say it’s the law of averages, meaning that the more attempts you make at something the better the odds of you attaining what you want, and that does play a part, but it’s the energy behind that statement that allows it to work.
This is why: As you continue to gather further information with each attempt, you are honing your ‘asking’; you are further defining what it is that you want. Maybe you thought you wanted a certain type of person in a relationship, or you wanted a certain type of job, only to find that you are changing your parameters after collecting more information; you don’t want what you thought you did! This new information is allowing you to begin to line up with what you do want.
The more you are willing to fail, the more information you are collecting; the more you are defining, and re-defining, what you want. Imagine, if you are less willing to risk the fear of failing, then you will move more slowly toward your goal; possibly you won’t move at all! Staying stuck and letting fear ‘drive your bus’, ruining all of your fun, is simply not an option! Re-write your thoughts about what you think you are ‘failing’ at. If you went on a job interview and didn’t get the job, you have a choice in how to think about it. You can think, ‘I don’t like those people’ spinning negativity throughout your day and reality and job search, or you can say, ‘Oh well, that didn’t feel good and it wasn’t for me, and I know because everything that is meant for me comes with ease’. That provides a release of all negative energy, and now you are ready to face many interviews, collect more and more information, until you create the perfect opportunity. This does take listening to yourself, both to see what thoughts are creating a negative vibe and to figure out a solution; to figure out a new direction or new goal.
So, Failure is the gateway to Success. Get on the bike, know that you may fall off in order to learn how to ride it!
As written by Vicki Murphy, BFA, RMPT, IEP
