"Our best successes often come from our greatest disappointments."
Howard Ward Beecher
Recently, a project which I poured a lot of time and energy into did not yield the outcomes that I had intended it to. It was, and still is, a disappointment.
And, because I played a prominent role in driving toward the desired outcome, I have spent a fair amount of time in 'personal post game' analysis to learn, understand, and better prepare for next time.
My self-coaching instincts served me well in getting to the FACTS ( a very potent F-word) that I use as lessons-learned for next time and, as a result, know already that I am better because of this experience.
However, there were moments during this self-reflective time when the thought of personal FAILURE ( another very potent F-word)crept into my thinking. And, while I consciously fought hard to not give it any energy..it slithered in pretty seductively and destructively.
Just as it was gaining a firm foot-hold in my brain one morning, I diverted my attention to check my email and this is what I found in a message from a service I subscribe to for daily inspirational thoughts (Neale Donald Walsch):
On this day of your life,
Mike, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you can only succeed, you cannot fail.
Failure is impossible; it is an illusion. Nothing is a failure. Nothing. Everything moves the human story, and hence the process of evolution, forward. Everything advances you on your journey.
You will not have to think but a second to know
exactly why you received this message today.
And so, FAITH (a third very potent F-word) kind of swooped in and re-framed the entire thought process with just a few words.
The lesson for me was this:
Choose your F-words wisely...they're potent.
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