Failure has been a topic on my mind lately. This may sound completely negative, but really I’m thinking about failure as part of being driven and successful. I’m not only accepting my failures, but I’m embracing them.
So, while this topic had already been on my mind a little bit, a Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Jordan Peterson as a guest popped up in my playlist that put my feelings into words and helped me realize even further what I was feeling. You can find the podcast here. It’s long but a great listen and full of learning points.
Here are a few quotes:
One definition of a winner is someone who never let losing stop them.
If you pick a level of competition in life where you’re always winning, you’re doing it wrong.
To be a winner you want to be disciplined and also on the edge where your skills are being developed, where losing is always a possibility.
By not putting yourself in positions where failure is possible, you’re doing yourself an injustice. You’re playing it safe. How do you expect to progress and grow at anything if you don’t test your limits?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately when I’m at the gym. Getting ready for the workout, thinking about the weight I’m going to use. The thought always goes through my head, I know I can do this movement with this amount of weight. But could I do more?
Lately, I’ve been pushing those limits and doing more. Not being afraid if I fail but fully accepting that and embracing anything I can learn in that situation. So, if I fail a lift with a heavy weight, well, then I’m going to make sure that I make a point to work on those skills and work up to the weight I want to be at. If I just stick to the weight that I know I can lift, where does the progress come in, how do I KNOW that I can’t lift heavier, how will I know what portions of my movement need work?
You can’t be afraid of failure. You have to view the scenario as, “If this happens it’ll be really awesome,” rather than, “This is a longshot, I don’t even know if I should put my time and effort into it.”
I’m the type of person that has rather high expectations for myself and dreams big. Instead of thinking about all of the different ways my plans for my future can fail, I keep picturing myself actually doing all of those things and focus on how cool it will be to have those experiences.
The mind is a powerful tool that can either be taken advantage of or completely detrimental to your health and life. Use your brain for good, not evil! Choose to picture your successes. Don’t be afraid of failure. And if failure does happen, ALWAYS learn from it and know that if you’re failing you’re actually trying to do something really difficult and you should be proud of that effort.
So, not only should you accept and embrace your failures, but to go along with that in a way, you need to stay motivated. As I mentioned before, I have some big plans for my life and I’m always excited for what the future may hold. That doesn’t mean I can’t be happy in the present moment, but that does mean that I’m striving to improve constantly.
Check out a few more quotes from that same podcast:
You shouldn’t feel good about who you are at age 20. You should feel good about what you could be, so about your potential.
You should treat yourself as if you’re valuable but focus on who you will become.
You should understand how much potential there is within you. Do everything you can to manifest that in the world.
We all have our niche, whether we’ve found that yet or not is the question. But even once you figure that out, there’s always something that can be done better. Strive to improve yourself on a daily basis. Doing this doesn’t mean you’re currently inadequate as a person, it simply means you’ve recognized that you have the potential to be someone even greater than the awesomeness you are now! Never settle in life, and that includes settling on yourself.
I hope I sparked some thought today. Check out Jordan Peterson on the Joe Rogan Experience and his new book, 12 Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos! He’s a smart dude and has awesome things to say.
