Ladies and gentlemen as you are very well aware the new year is upon us with all of the excitement that it brings. In spite of all of these feelings of joy and hope, there is a real issue that we all will have to deal with as the new year unravels: Failure! I am not a person that is unfamiliar with this word, in fact at times I feel like I fail more than the average person.
My Story With Failure:
Almost two years ago I took the plunge and decided to get RKC certified, I had been using kettlebell as a training tool and knew that I needed to get better at using them. So I booked my workshop for September in December and began to train. I knew that I couldn’t do it alone so I got a coach to help me to make my technique better and continued to improve.
As time passed , I kept training and finally the weekend of the event came. I felt excitement mixed with nervousness as I entered the building where I would spend the majority of the next three days. As the weekend continued and I learned so much and developed some new relationships, all of that was incredible. But then test day came, in spite of all of my preparation I was nervous as if I were about to fight for my life. I passed all of the technique tests with minor issues to work on. But afterwards was the snatch test and it caused my heart to sink. I had a pretty good rhythm going on early in my test but I let the overwhelming nature of the test cause me to get lose focus and quit, so I failed my course.
I have learned a lot since then and I want to share those insights with you my readers. Every time we start something new we take the risk of failing at our new endeavor. This is a big reason why may people will not try to learn and do something new. Don’t be one of those people who sit on the side lines and never get any where instead embrace the “suck” of learning. These next few points will help you do just that!
- First, we have to acknowledge that if we seek to expand ourselves we will fail at times.
Acceptance of this fact will help us to not feel like a complete loser when we fail at our task. This type of attitude will save the time we spend on beating ourselves up and enable us to learn from our mistakes. Don’t waste your energy and time on self-pity and hate. Instead focus on fixing the issue.
- Acknowledge your limitations and get help if you need it.This principle is easy, sometimes we fail because we don’t know what to do. Don’t let stupid pride keep you from being successful. Get help from a qualified person if you need it, the best teachers are also students!
- Learn something every time you mess up!Mistakes can be expensive and painful, they can lead to unwanted consequences and misery at times. So you will want to minimize them and learn as much as you can from them. If you are having a problem with a movement tape it or get someone who knows to watch and make some suggestions to get better. If you keep seeking to improve and learn from your mistakes you will keep getting better at your task and or new habit. As Dan John says seek to be 1% better every time!
The new year brings tremendous opportunities to us for us to keep getting better at our weak spots. We all have them whether it be in our fitness training, work, relationships or life. You can choose to deny them or you can have big balls and confront and defeat them! Take it from someone who has failed, that it is not the end. You can get up from there and move on and become all that you want to be or need to be! In other words you can conquer in the new year!
My rants on training and life 