Thoughts - Throwing Caution to the Wind - Dealing with Failure
Today, I will be a bit more personal...
The other day I got a big, fat "No" from a major opportunity I applied for a few months ago and I was upset, but something felt different this time because...
This year I did an experiment… I set myself an annual goal for 10 fails!
I know it sounds strange, but it is by far the one goal that kept me motivated the most this year!
Now every new opportunity I find, I approach it with far less fear because of this goal.
I am thinking that if I succeed it would be amazing, but if I fail it will help me meet my 10 "fails" quota!
So I have become far more willing to just give things a try.
That big opportunity that I just got a "No" from would have been something I would have probably not applied to had I not set myself the "fail" goal.
It was very high stakes and I knew I would need a lot of work to pull it off. But, not applying for it would have meant missing out on a lot of things.
Firstly, the application itself helped me re-evaluate my why and think of my values and my purpose again more closely.
And secondly, I can now ask for feedback from a panel of experts on my field to understand how I can do better next time.
Every failure represents hard work.
It's also a shame not to account for fails because they take time and energy. If we only think of successes it sometimes feels like we have wasted time in between, but if we acknowledge failures, then it's easier to see where our time was spent.
We may live in societies that glorify success, but in reality it takes a lot of rejection for anything to actually happen.
What do you think?
I really want to know what your thoughts are on that.
Would you consider a failure target for your personal or professional growth?
Just click here and let me know. I would love to hear your take!
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