The secret to success: Learn to love failure
- Feb, 01 2022
- By Andrea M. Winn
- Well-being
- No comments
Surprisingly, I’ve discovered failure has value, and I’d like to share what I’ve learned.
It began last Fall when I decided to take up strength training. My goal was to build lean muscle mass to increase my health and immunity. I signed up for a well-thought-out program with an excellent coach. It took some creativity to figure out how to do my training routines at home, but to my surprise I did!
It’s a discipline to come to each work out with a fresh mind. Week in and week out, work out by workout, my body has grown much stronger – and I LOVE it!
It’s helped me feel more confident and secure. It’s easier to step up on things and to lift and move things. It’s easier to climb the steep hill to my special spot in the woods where I feed a flock of chickadees.
Muscles make me feel more empowered in my body.
Strength training has taught me a lot about failure. The only way to build new muscle is to exercise to failure – where my muscles simply can’t lift one more time. It’s a painful ugly moment. (Ugly because the look on my face is contorted!)
People usually don’t talk about their failures. We tend to be embarrassed by failing. And fear of failure has a steep cost: it leads to creating a safe small life
I now realize how important failing is. In strength training, it builds muscle. In life, it builds character and wisdom.
Being willing to go for a dream is a risk – it requires stepping beyond a safe line into the unknown. You may fail.
AND it is through failure that you can take a good look at your actions and their results, and learn from that. The discipline of learning from failure is the surest key to success and living a fulfilling life.
In fact, if you look at the stories of the most successful people, it is fascinating to look at the colossal failures they had BEFORE they created their success. The key is they didn’t give up at the point of failure. They learned from their failure, and they did it smarter the next time. They grew stronger from their failure.
Choosing to live life embracing failure releases you from the bondage of being perfect. You discover inherent confidence. And most of all, you live your life instead of hiding and playing small.
Are you willing to embrace failure and in so doing, fulfil your wildest and most exciting life dreams?
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