He profited by these two traumatic experiences, because he analyzed them, and found the lesson they taught. But what of the man who has neither the time, nor the inclination to study failure in search of knowledge that may lead to success? Where and how is he to learn the art of converting defeat into stepping stones to opportunity?
– Napoleon Hill
Reflection, analysis, and the study of my failures have led me to many great successes. A willingness to divorce myself from my old beliefs. Some of these were simply self-limiting.
”Those terrible things they said about me were true.”
“I cannot learn this.”
“My body was not made for this.”
“Nothing I do seems to work.”
These limiting beliefs can linger in your head for a very long time. It is best to eliminate them from reality by speaking it out loud, to yourself or even others; or writing them down in a personal notebook/diary. Only when they leave your head can they be seen for what they truly are, fabrications.
These beliefs act like a virus and only a complacent host can allow them to survive. A person who is willing to study their own failures and grow from them will never allow this virus to live in their mind.
People always want to study other “successful” people to see how they’ve done it. Too bad, because it’s backwards. You actually want to study those who are willing to fail often, and disclose that to you, so that you can learn from it. We are constantly reminding our students that “We were here once, and we struggled just as you are now.”
So, how can you study your own failures?
It starts by becoming self-aware, a major part of our practice at Loco Motion New York.
Interested in diving deeper into a practice rooted in turning failures into wins? Click the link below to learn more.