You didn’t wake up this morning and say you were going to fail. You rolled out of bed, yawned, stretched, made some random noises and shuffled off to the bathroom. You probably glanced into the magic mirror on the bathroom wall, noticed your hair was disheveled, spotted the new random zit on your chin but guess what? You didn’t see any fail in this mirror; not yet. Yeah sure there might be a mood to contend with; Fear, contentment, anger, happiness. That’s not the same thing as fail. Fail is a mindset and it’s too gosh darn early for that to kick in. The day has just begun and there’s new promise.
You glance into the rear view mirror on the way to work. See any fail in there yet? It’s hard not to notice the moron riding your bumper or the person who just cut you off. A little fail is creeping in but you shake it off.
Around mid morning after your 3rd cup of coffee, mother nature calls. You pass the mirror on the way in and give yourself a look. Already a sale you wanted fell through, and a client has called upset. There’s fail showing on your face now. Your mouth is slightly downcast and some hairs you spent time this morning lining up are now out of place. Snapping yourself out of this is a little harder now but you splash cold water on your face in hopes it will wash it off.
By later in the day there’s fail everywhere. You wonk out on the lady who meant well at the gas station. Who gives change using nickels? I mean really. There’s a gray cloud over your head. That blog idea you wanted to have didn’t get thought of. Those vital Tweets didn’t get sent. That big idea you have on the shelf will stay there again today, its dust piling up. The fail is here and it’s cost you your day. Looking into any mirror now will cause you to scream so you don’t bother to look.
Is this downward spiral familiar to any of you? Is the definition of failing trying your best and not reaching your goal? No. It’s a mentality; it says I’ve let my emotions and stupid brain rule the day. Because you let it win today you’re not going to get anything of any real substance done. It’s true defeatism and YOU are really to blame. “Am I smart enough?” “Am I good enough?” “Why do bad things always happen to me?”
We all have moods. Don’t let those moods morph into the fail. Being angry is fine. We all get mad. Being overjoyed happens to us all and we relish in it when it happens. Failing is allowing your mind to drag you down; telling yourself that you aren’t good enough. All of that trash is in your head. The fail just stops you from realizing your true potential. It’s going to be pretty hard to be the Leader, Husband, Father, Visionary, CEO, Entrepreneur, Linchpin when your body spends its days tearing you down. Don’t let the fail win today. When things get tough think back to the beginning of the day when it contained such promise. We start every day that way and somewhere we let it go off course. Stop. Keep your emotions in check and do what you’re capable of doing. I’m excited to see the result.
Thanks to Chris Griffith from Flickr for the pic.
