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What Not To Do In Times Of Failure
photo courtesy of FreaksAnon
Failure Is Not Falling Down But Refusing To Get Up – Chinese Proverb
‘People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar’. Top 8 Motivation Hacks will help you to get motivated and stay motivated. A daily dose of either of these will enable you to stay on track with your goals and achieve them.
Motivation Hack #4 : What Not To Do In Times Of Failure
When failure strikes, motivation flees. Faith shakes a little, pep-talk is all forgotten. It is in these times of uncertainty that we take steps which could cost us far more than failure itself.
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Give Up
It is very easy to pack up and give in, very easy to blame self for everything that’s gone wrong and think you cannot make it. But guess what, it’s not you who has failed.
I have one rule which keeps me going in spite of all failures – I cannot give up before I earn the right to do so. I surround myself with innumerable examples of people who failed, were rejected and yet, rose from their ashes victorious like phoenix. And amongst them, I ask myself – Have I earned the right to give up? The answer is always a resounding NO!
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Collapse All Worlds
I & my partner stumbled upon the concept of ‘collapsing all worlds’ while supporting each other in our tough times. Collapsing all worlds simply means that failure in one life area is extended to all other life areas. Hence, when you fail at one place, you start nitpicking all other areas and focus on negativity in each area till it seems you are a failure everywhere.
I am known in my circle to use statements like ‘don’t mix two things’, ‘where did this come from?’, ‘let’s take one problem at a time’. These help to stay focussed on the topic in hand and ensures that we don’t overwhelm ourselves by blowing failure out of proportion.
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Do Nothing Different
One extreme is to give up and collapse worlds. The other extreme is to think that failure means nothing at all. It is good to take failure with a pinch of salt – not allow it to affect your motivation and self-esteem. But, it is down right stupid to think that failure means nothing. Every time there is a failure, you are getting feedback – that something in your strategy was wrong, you need to improvise on what you were doing based on whatever your failure is telling you.
Every time things don’t go as you want them to, do something different. Doing the same things will give you same results. It is insanity to expect otherwise. Hence, review your plan and revise, look into areas that you haven’t looked into before, try out something new; because all failure is trying to tell you is that what you did this time, is not working.
What is on your list of “not to do” in event of failure? How do you ensure you stay motivated when facing failure? Do share in comments.
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Great list! Giving up and collapsing all worlds are so easy to slide into for me. Before I know it, I’m thinking I can’t do anything right! BUT I have learned the discipline of keeping my mouth shut about it for a little space of time … until the emotional tidal wave has finished it’s surge and begins to recede. Then I can start evaluating the ‘real’ meaning behind the failure.
ru4real?´s last blog post..7 Super Helpful Bible Study Tools
I like this Avani! What NOT to do – we hear often what to do in certain situations – but not – what not to do. This is a good way of looking at it. I stay motivated by NOT listening to my inner voice of doubt (which tries to rear it’s ugly head every once in a while) when I hit a roadblock. That can be my limitation – my mind – if I let it be…
Lance´s last blog post..Ask…And You Shall Receive
Hi Avani: I think a lot of people are guilty of overgeneralizing their problems: if their relationship breaks down they think no one will ever love them again; if they lose their job they think no one will ever hire them again; and so on. We have to be careful not to make problems bigger than they actually are. I like your idea of not “collapsing all worlds”.
This is really great! – all three points. The “collapse all worlds” is full of thinking errors. It’s simply not true that if we fail at one thing that we fail/have failed/will fail at everything.
Jennifer´s last blog post..Do You Feel that is Right?
Hi Avani – I landed on your page and thought you had the picture upside down.
I agree, when things go wrong we can’t give up. Failure is a great time for us to access the situation and see what we can learn from it.
I think that Chinese Proverb says it all.
Thanks for the inspiration!!
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I have one rule when I fail: I always make sure I learn from it. This way you turn it into a positive.
Click A Life Coach´s last blog post..Live the dream
I have a saying I stole from somewhere which is similar to “Click A Life Coach”: “I cannot fail; I can only learn and grow”. This actually also helps me in doing things which are outside my comfort zone as it makes less afraid of “failing”
Great article!
I don’t surround myself with many successful people but with just one – Abraham Lincoln. He is today known as the best president of America ever. But his past shows that he had met many failures and even reached the level of depression at 26yrs of age. I just think as to how would he have fought his life before being elected. A real tough job!