Let’s be clear, failure sucks. And the problem with failure is mostly in your head. But thoughts are not facts.
Because you think it’s embarrassing or even shameful.
Because it seems like proof that you obviously suck and that you don’t deserve to succeed.
If you fail at something you really believed in, and that you really wanted to do, it can only mean that you will never get your dream life, right?
You might as well just settle for less and forget your dreams.
Thoughts are not facts so skip the crappy story
But all this is not true. It’s only the story in your head.
You are the only one who can attach all these terrible and disempowering meanings to your “failure”.
“It’s not hard to fail…It’s hard to accept you failed but once that’s
out of the way, it’s pretty smooth sailing” – Joshing Stern
Yes, your ego can get bruised if you fail at something.
Especially if you were convinced that you could do it.
But this failure doesn’t have to mean anything and has nothing to do with your worth.
When you get aware of this, you get so much freedom in return.
Even if everyone around tells you that it was a bad idea, that they knew you wouldn’t succeed and that you don’t have what it takes…
It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe them. Thoughts are not facts.
And you get to choose what you believe.
There are many different reasons why things sometimes don’t go as expected.
It doesn’t mean that you suck and that you will never make it.
Try to see it as objective information.
As something that simply didn’t work out and look for ways to improve your approach.
Or maybe you discover that you should be doing something completely different because the thing you thought you wanted actually isn’t a good fit.
Change your story around failure
Thoughts are not facts. You have the power to tell yourself a better feeling story.
When things go wrong, you get important insights.
It doesn’t have to be hard on your self-esteem.
Depending on your culture, you’ve learned for years and years that failure is bad and embarrassing.
It’s time to unlearn this.
It takes practice to change your thinking patterns, but you really don’t have to tell yourself a crappy story about yourself when something goes wrong.
It’s very different to objectively realize that you could have done better than to bully and shame yourself.
Insulting yourself or being self-defeating never helps.
“Okay, so this didn’t work. Well, it is what it is”.
Learn from it and move on.
Thoughts are not facts.
Get off autopilot and choose a better feeling story.
Failure doesn’t define you and has nothing to do with your worth.
You’ll do better next time! Maybe you’d like to check out this post about mistakes, too
Improve yourself. Improve your life!
PS: Also check out the Ninja Freebie page.
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