THE ONLY WAY TO FAIL

I’ve been reading some interesting information lately - some of it on fitness and some on writing, but the same theme has been coming through. I would sum up this theme as this:

The only way to fail is to give up, to quit. As long as you don’t quit, you have not failed.

Think about that.
                                   
You’re working on a manuscript, you get discouraged at some point along the way. We all do - this is normal. It’s part of the struggle. Instead of working through that difficult period (which may include days of doing nothing but moaning and pacing) - instead of working through it, you say “Screw it, I’m not finishing this manuscript.” You throw the printout in the trash and delete the files from your computer.

There will be no book now, because you have elected not to continue. Furthermore, you may have quit right before your big break through - your “AHA” moment. What if, only a few days after that you had the “aha” moment and went furiously back to work on that manuscript and wrote a bestseller!

No bestseller, though, because you didn’t wait it out and go back to work on it. You quit.

You have just FAILED.

Yep. You did.

Failure is easy on the front end. You give up and that’s it. No effort required.

Except it’s not easy - because that failure will follow you around all the length of your days. It will kick you in your backside FOREVER.

It’s like a workout program. You workout and “try” to eat right for months and one day you get on the scale and it’s been weeks since you lost a single pound. You throw in the towel and say “I’m not doing this anymore” and you go back to eating three-cheese pizzas at 10:00 at night.

You failed. Not because you didn’t lose weight for weeks, but because you gave up.

That lack of weight loss was just FEEDBACK. The feedback doesn’t constitute failure. The feedback is data -information. It’s information you can use - that is, if you don’t give up.

While you struggle through that manuscript (or whatever goal you’re pursuing) you will suffer (just as you will with weeks of no weight loss on your fitness campaign), but if you look at that data you can instead ask yourself:

“What is this telling me? What can I learn from this?”

There is always something to learn from an experience, be it bad or good. So, look at the feedback and find the positive takeaway from it. It’s there.

Don’t give up. Don’t quit.

As long as you keep going, keep learning, keep working on your goal, whatever it may be, no matter how slow the progress, you have not failed.

When you persevere, YOU ARE A SUCCESS!!

Polla filia,
J.F.