"When you fail, find the lesson in it, and then recall a time when you have succeeded." -Training Camp, by Jon Gordan
I personally do not like the word 'fail'. When I hear fail, I think only bad things, like nothing good can come out of the result. It also is a word that really stings when you 'fail' at something after months, even years, of preparation for it. What can hurt more after training or working on a project for months, even years, only to not come close your goal or to have what you were working on completely shut down. You must think to yourself, what was the point of all that work, I must not have done something right, I will never reach that goal now. But, if you find just one thing that you can learn from from a "failed" experience, then you can turn the whole perspective of that event around.
I, often, have fallen into this trap. A more recent example, I am not having the best track season currently, and a couple weeks ago after a bad or "failed" race, I thought to myself why can I not run fast anymore? What is wrong with me? I couldn't see the positives that came from the race. A little later, my coach sat down with me and we had a good talk. Well, more like he talked to me and I cried for 40 minutes, NOT because he was saying mean/bad things to me, but because he was trying to get me to see the positives of my season and my abilities and I emotionally all I could do way cry. Afterwards, when reflecting on the day, I came to the conclusion that me "failing" in this race and prompting the conversation I had with my coach, was the lesson for that failure. I learned some things about life and running that had I not had that conversation, I might not have ever seen. That was my lesson, even though the immediate action was per say a "fail" since I did not race well, something good came out of it. It then prompted me to think about what I have succeeded at in the past and what I did differently at those times to be able to succeed.
When you encounter a set back, it will hurt at first, and as humans we immediately look for the negatives. But, if we look for the positive lessons that can come from a set back, we can learn many great things that will set up a foundation for future successes because we can learn from our mistakes or failures and let them fuel us.
I personally do not like the word 'fail'. When I hear fail, I think only bad things, like nothing good can come out of the result. It also is a word that really stings when you 'fail' at something after months, even years, of preparation for it. What can hurt more after training or working on a project for months, even years, only to not come close your goal or to have what you were working on completely shut down. You must think to yourself, what was the point of all that work, I must not have done something right, I will never reach that goal now. But, if you find just one thing that you can learn from from a "failed" experience, then you can turn the whole perspective of that event around.
I, often, have fallen into this trap. A more recent example, I am not having the best track season currently, and a couple weeks ago after a bad or "failed" race, I thought to myself why can I not run fast anymore? What is wrong with me? I couldn't see the positives that came from the race. A little later, my coach sat down with me and we had a good talk. Well, more like he talked to me and I cried for 40 minutes, NOT because he was saying mean/bad things to me, but because he was trying to get me to see the positives of my season and my abilities and I emotionally all I could do way cry. Afterwards, when reflecting on the day, I came to the conclusion that me "failing" in this race and prompting the conversation I had with my coach, was the lesson for that failure. I learned some things about life and running that had I not had that conversation, I might not have ever seen. That was my lesson, even though the immediate action was per say a "fail" since I did not race well, something good came out of it. It then prompted me to think about what I have succeeded at in the past and what I did differently at those times to be able to succeed.
When you encounter a set back, it will hurt at first, and as humans we immediately look for the negatives. But, if we look for the positive lessons that can come from a set back, we can learn many great things that will set up a foundation for future successes because we can learn from our mistakes or failures and let them fuel us.
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