How would you like to be done with the “Fear of Failure” once and for all? How liberating would it feel to live your life as boldly as you wish without having to second guess yourself.

I know how you can and I’m here to show you how. In Part I of this series, I shared with you what the biggest secret about failure is. If you didn’t get a chance to read it, check it out here.

For those of you who are all caught up you already know the secret.

Failure does not exist.

Hurt feelings exist, temporary disappointment exists, but experiencing “failure”, being a “failure”, feeling like a “failure” are all illusions.

We already discussed how simply reframing how you look at your situation can get out of victim mode and into empowerment mode. Below I outline 2 simple equations you can apply to your circumstance to help illustrate how failure is just one part of a bigger picture. When you add all the elements together, things look a lot different and a lot better.

Failure + Lesson = Valuable Life Experience

Take that situation you consider a failure and extract the valuable lessons to change a worthless experience into something valuable.

What in your life do you consider a failure? A failed relationship? Money poorly invested? Failed business? Whatever circumstance that you have deemed a failure in your life, I am here to tell you there is value in it. Where is the value in the lessons learned?

Take time to reflect on each situation where you feel you have failed. What did you learn from it? What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about humankind? What advice could you pass on to someone else?

I know from every failed relationship I have had, I have learned so much about myself and the psychology of humans. I know my investment failures have taught me invaluable lessons about money. So while the actual project or relationship may not have lasted forever, I gained so much from the experience, so how could I call it a failure?

“THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCHOOL AND LIFE? IN SCHOOL, YOU’RE TAUGHT A LESSON AND THEN GIVEN A TEST. IN LIFE, YOU’RE GIVEN A TEST THAT TEACHES YOU A LESSON.” – TOM BODETT

 

Failure + Experience = Wisdom

You also gain experience when dealing with something you consider a failure. Experience is something you can’t learn from a book, a movie or an MP3, no, to gain experience you must experience something. “Failures” usually take us through the whole spectrum of emotions and from that we have so much to draw upon when embarking on the next project, relationship or adventure. Experience is something that we can also share with others in the form of wisdom. Simply sharing what you’ve been through, what you did when the times got rough and how you recovered or didn’t recover is immeasurably important to anyone attempting the same thing in life. Gaining wisdom to share with others is such a gift to both the giver and the recipient, why would we ever let the illusion of failure get in the way of that?

“If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be.”- John Heywood

 

Your Turn:

Hit me with your favorite equation

– Tell me about a situation that you thought was a failure that you now see as a valuable lesson

or

– Tell me about a situation that you went through that bestowed upon you invaluable wisdom you wouldn’t have otherwise obtained.

Share with me in the comments below 🙂