”The secret of life is . . .
. . . to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist”
One of the greatest obstacles to success is the fear of failure. And if we’re honest, sometimes we feel guilty to acknowledge what we really want – the degree of success that we truly desire in our hearts, as if we are asking for too much – feeling we might not deserve it.
So we play small, procrastinate, or sabotage ourselves. Worse yet, we don’t get up the eighth time.
We settle for what is safe, while feeling trapped in the mediocrity.
If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of your life, it’s your soul’s way of tugging on your sleeve – giving you clues about what needs to change. Avoiding this tug is to potentially put yourself at risk, or at least cause you to be depressed, irritable, or self-defeating.
So if you’re on the seventh round with some challenge in your life, having fallen, stop and ask yourself, “In what past experience did I fail and then decide to get up again? And when I did, it led me to success.” Then allow yourself to feel what that was like – to persevere, to stay the course – and to succeed. Feel the sense of accomplishment and pride. Feel the relief and the joy of the satisfaction. Open your heart and mind to this emotional peak.
Re-mind your mind that you can have that same experience with this present challenge by getting up once again and again and again, until you reach that pinnacle of success.
For more inspiration and insight on how to effectively deal with failure, go to Using Mistakes and Failure – Foundational to Success
