Failure

There are times in all of our lives when we have all failed at something. If you are reading this and swear you haven’t you are lying; not to me, I don’t know you, to yourself. There is nothing to be ashamed of, the best of us fail. The key is what you do with that failure that separates the proverbial men from the boys.

Heck some of us fail a lot, there a ton of things I wish I could push the “do over” button on in my own life but I certainly don’t sit around wallowing in self pity eating a quart of ice cream obsessing on it. That takes some will power and talent I won’t try and kid you.

It is in fact human instinct to look at failure and say “I am not going to do that again.” I call this the self-preservation instinct and it was meant to keep us alive during a more rough and tumble time. We are programmed to avoid the things we suck at so we don’t get hurt or killed. I can say this, if we ALL still thought that way there certainly wouldn’t be as many people on the golf courses I live around.

The self-preservation instinct had its place and still does but we need to avoid using that instinct in situations that are not life threatening in some way to us. The only way to get better is to fail and learn. There is no easy way or shortcut I can give you, you need to try and try again, until you master whatever it is you are attempting.

When you fail at something the key is to make sure you learn from that failure. What was the straw that broke the camel’s back? What can you do better next time? How can you approach the situation differently next time to help set you up for a more successful attempt? These are the things you need to think about and remember.

Dust yourself off and get back at it as soon as possible in order to prevent the self-preservation instinct from kicking in and if it does fight it tooth and nail. The only REAL failure is failure to learn from your failures. If you don’t take something positive from your experience then you can truly call yourself a failure and break out the Ben & Jerry’s.

It all goes back to what you are probably sick of me preaching at this point, the survivor mentality. Learning from failures is a critical part of this thought process and contrary to the self-preservation instinct will help you make your situation infinitely better if practiced in real life. Don’t let pride or ignorance prevent you from trying to conquer your personal failures; it is the only way to get better as a person and as a survivor.

That is what this is all about people; taking your life, attitude and circumstances and improving them. THAT is what being a survivor is.

This blogs "vehicle" is disaster but you don't have to be an alarmist, prepper, survivalist or anything else to want to make yourself and your circumstances better. That is just being human...

...that is all.

Source:
29 Jul 2009 05:00 AM PDT
Flea - Be A Survivor