If You Fail By Trying To Do, Then Keep On Failing, And Hooray For You!

In this article I’m looking at a quote image, and it’s a right old failure..

Well, ok, the point I make is not really about failure. Although it kind of is. But not really.

“If you fail by trying to do, then keep on failing, and hooray for you.”

Many people dismiss the whole field of self improvement and personal development, in fact they dismiss the *entire concept* of it, because they have a notion that it’s based on some sort of ridiculous notion that failure is not on the cards. A notion that ‘failure is not an option’. A notion that all will be well, all our goals and dreams will come to pass if we simply think about them.

Hmm…

That’s not what the self improvement industry says, of course, but that’s the perception that many people have of it, and because that perception persists, so does their refusal to think that it may have any impact on their *real* lives, the real lives that have failures all along, that involve bumbling along from one thing to another, making do the best we can.

Hmm again…

So, why would someone like me who is an obvious fan of personal development even make an image that talks about failure, let alone one that says hooray for failing?

If you fail by trying to do, then keep on failing, and hooray for you.

Well, it’s all about what exactly we mean when we talk about ‘failure.’

It’s a word that has an instantly negative connotation – the opposite of success.
If you fail, then you’ve lost, you’ve ended up on the wrong side of the success coin, it’s *you* that’s failed.

We can take this further by saying that maybe it justified your fears or doubts in the first place about your ability. Maybe it justifies what everyone else always said about you, that you’d fail, because you’re not good enough.

Or, maybe it doesn’t.

If we take that view of ‘failure’ as meaning ‘not succeeded’ and add in a little 3 letter word, we get to ‘not succeeded yet’, and this changes everything.




We’re now in a different ball game, and we’re at the point I make in the image.

If you try to do something, and it’s a goal you’ve set with intention, a goal that has meaning for you, it needs to be viewed in that context.

Just because you haven’t crossed whatever the ‘finish line’ may happen to be, you haven’t ‘failed.’

It could be that you took a step, or maybe several steps, and came to a point where you need to improve your skill set, or your knowledge, before you can go further. That’s not failure, that’s progress. It means you can go away and learn the skills, which is further progress, it’s all moving forwards.

It could be that the actions of others has had an impact which has prevented the ‘success’. That’s not failure, that’s life and again it could be part of a learning process, maybe for those others as well as you.

Oh no, it’s not failure. Other people may view it as failure, they may be more than happy to tell you that it’s failure, but that doesn’t make it so.

"Gordon Bryan",

How you view this is vital, which is why I attach such importance to the point I’m making here. If you view it as failure, you’re going to have a problem, because that’s a mindset issue that might prevent you going again. If, though, you view it as progress along the road, something to be addressed and dealt with, then you are most definitely on the right path.

As for the others that think you have failed..?

Well, to be honest, some of them may well see your point if you simply explain this concept of progress and ‘not succeeding yet’ and they may support you all the more for it. Others, though, won’t take that view, and will dig their heels in with the idea that you’ve failed.

So be it.

That then becomes more an issue for them than it does for you. For all the people that say you have failed there are those that will recognise your progress, will encourage you to go again, and will cheer you on.

Look to your own ‘failures’ past and present. Viewed from the angle I’m taking here, were they ever failures at all? For the most part I say ‘no’.

Now, of course, there may be times where you *do* fail. Times where you persist, learn, come again, move forwards as much as you can, but you come to the end of the road, and whatever the ‘success’ was, is not going to happen.

This happens in life. It has to be accepted, it cannot and should not be denied. However, if this happens, and it could more properly be described as a ‘failure’ by others, and yes yourself then you *still* haven’t failed, because you tried. You won’t be one of the majority that look back and wonder what if, that look back on dreams unfulfilled simply by not trying.

You won’t be in that group, because you *did* try, and in my book, that looks pretty successful to me!

So, the image could have just said ‘if you fail when trying, you haven’t really failed’ and have done with it, but I liked the more poetic twang I gave it, plus the deeper look at the point via this article.

I hope you agree, but if not, and you think I’ve failed, then I’m going to keep on failing, and yes, hooray for me. Make sure you’re able to say hooray for you too!

Ok, I’d love to hear what you think, do leave a comment!

‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Don’t forget to grab my free 8 step goal achievement formula if you want to ramp up your ‘failures’!

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