No failures or mistakes, just lessons learned

Photo courtesy Julia Caesar via Unsplash

Hey tribe!

This week, I’d like to talk about the topic of failure and mistakes. My life’s journey has taught me that neither are as big a deal as we often make them out to be. In fact, I don’t believe in either because in the grander scheme of life it has been proven that every experience we ever have is an opportunity to expand our awareness. Check out a few of the reasons why I believe that failures and mistakes are really lessons in disguise.

Failure isn’t real.

For starters, I believe that sometimes we use failure as an excuse to quit and give up on ourselves because it’s easier than sticking with something for the long haul. But I’m here to remind you that just because you don’t get the outcome that you want, doesn’t mean you won’t ever succeed.

Some of the most famous names in history would never be known today had they given up on themselves at the first sign of defeat. Michael Jordan, Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers… Beyoncé for goodness sake! Each of these people, and countless others, never labeled themselves failures because they didn’t get it right the first time. Instead, they let those temporary moments of defeat fuel them to keep going, keep working, keep practicing to hone their craft. And every day that would go by, they were getting better and better with time. Today, we know these people as some of the greatest of all time. But by no means are they super human. They just chose to see experiences differently. They chose to see them as opportunities to be better.

Mistakes are there to help you grow.

You know the saying, “Nobody’s perfect,” or “Everybody makes mistakes?” Well it’s true, and quite frankly, that’s what makes life awesome!

If we didn’t make mistakes, we wouldn’t know what we need to do to improve ourselves. Mistakes are also opportunities to do and be better. — Brittnay C. Starks

We get to use the things that we didn’t get right the first time and make better choices moving forward. Choosing a different thought and corresponding action is what will render a different outcome than the one before. And as the late and great Maya Angelou once said:

When you know better, you do better. — Maya Angelou

The fact of the matter is that you won’t always have the answers, and that’s okay. But when you do gain insight, then it’s up to you to do something proactive with that revelation. So… know that it’s always okay for you to miss the mark at first and then self-correct. You can let yourself off the hook now. ;-)

A delay is not a denial.

When things don’t happen right when you want them to, just know that the “in between” time is an opportunity for you to do the inner work that is required before you can have the things that you truly desire.

A delay gives you the chance to learn, develop new skills, and hone your craft. You can get what you want right now today, but are you the person that it takes to keep it?

This quote pretty much speaks for itself.

Oftentimes, the very thing that makes us label ourselves “failures” or see mistakes as anything other than lessons is the whole idea of a time delay. A delay is often the very thing that is needed to prepare you for the life of your dreams. If your dream life would come any sooner than it should, you probably wouldn’t enjoy it because you wouldn’t feel prepared to handle it. Hence the reason why people who win the lottery often lose it all in a short period of time. Or the reason why people who experience overnight fame, often fall into depression.

The moral of the story is this:

Use the experiences of your life as a tool to learn and grow. They are there to teach you something, to allow you to become more, to do more, and to achieve more. If you use your time wisely, you could become the very person that it will take to not only to get the life you want, but to keep it.