I haven’t really found it a very useful strategy to learn from your failures. Every time I realize that I have made a mistake or that I have really failed at something and decide that this is the particular lesson I have learned from it, I really don’t really seem to learn a lot or that it really doesn’t help me a lot. I have only learned how not to fail again, but haven’t really learned how to succeed in that particular situation. I mean, really think about it. Do you really want to know all the ways of how not to fail, or would you rather learn a few techniques that help you succeed and master it?
For the past one year I have been reading, listening and watching a lot of self help, or self development material. My understanding of peak performance, about different tools and strategies to achieve your goals, how to set your goals and how to determine what I really want in life has expanded to an extent to which I can safely say I can write a book now from what I have learned and from my own way of thinking. And for some reason there always seems to be something lacking. It helps me a little, but then sometimes(not always) I fall in to the same rut; into the same old habits.
Just two days ago I was thinking about all my successes in the past. Actually I have done that a lot of the times in the past. I think about all my successful moments in life and keep wandering, what was it really that made the difference. It has been many months, and for some situations I can even say it has been years since I started inquiring about what it really was that made the difference. There have been times when success seemed so easy to attain. Two days ago I made some very key distinctions that resulted in my quick and easy success.
- I knew exactly what I wanted and believed without a doubt that I could achieve it. Failure not only was not an option, it just didn’t exist in my mine; I could not even imagine what failure in those instances would be like.
- I just did it! I did not plan, or think, or ponder, or come up with a strategy.
- It was fun, enjoyable and exciting. No matter how difficult it would have seemed from a third person view point, I did not see it as work. It was so much just natural.
- I was focused on the end result, and every step I took was in the direction of what I wanted, and every step that took me away from it was quickly eliminated.
- I did not look at temporary set backs as failure. I took it as, since this doesn’t work, the set of possible guesses was getting smaller and I was getting closer to success.
- Once I believed I had succeeded, I tested it! And started using what I learned from it.
According to me, these are my key 6 steps that I have used unconsciously to succeed. What is or was your success strategy? I’m sure everyone has their own strategy; their own algorithm of success. Scrap out the old belief that you have to fail many times to succeed. Before I knew this idiotic concept of learning by failure, I was actually successful in a lot of things that I did. When I started learning from failure, I was actually failing more and succeeding less. You know what they say, “I was born smart, education made me stupid”.