Biography’s of extremely successful people have often revealed that they have had their share of failures. Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple, the company he founded. J.K. Rowling was living on welfare when she wrote Harry Potter. Tim Ferris was rejected by dozens of publishers before someone took a chance on The 4 Hour Work Week. Thomas Edison’s light bulb had 100’s of failures before he created a stable bulb that transformed the world. And most people who have had long term weight loss have had multiple failed diets.
Failure is humbling, but if looked at in the right context, it can also be powerful. If we are failing it’s an indication we are working on something important to us and in failing it’s also an indication that we are trying. In our failures, we neglect to give ourselves credit for that effort. What we sometimes forget is that when we fail we are often closer to success, but this is not always easy to see. Often we are focusing on what we didn’t do, what we didn’t say, or what we didn’t complete. But hidden in the negative are seeds of future success if we would only put our failure into a broader context. The power in failure occurs when we learn from our failures.
A little over 9 years ago I had a major failure in my career. In 2006 I was laid off of my job as my company was tanking. After searching for work for a couple of months, I decided to start my own coaching and consulting company. It was exciting to be entrepreneurial and I loved being my own boss, but I wasn’t successful at all. Over a couple of years, all I can say is that I broke even. That wasn’t helpful to my family and it put a lot of stress into our lives.
But the humbling power of this failure is that over those two years I developed new skills and honed my expertise that made me more attractive to the company I now work for. Had I not had those two years of independent consulting and coaching, I don’t know if my current company would have been interested in me. The seeds of my career success today was planted in failure of my past career endeavors.
Here are some things to put into context when we fail around health and weight.
1. If we evaluate why our diet failed we should have more information about what doesn’t work. I’ve been on diets that were successful in the short term but failed in the long term because they were too restrictive and that just isn’t sustainable. I used to blame the diet and myself instead of trying to analyze what worked and what didn’t. If we could back up a little after each failure and learn from them we would reach success a little sooner.
2. Success and failure aren’t static, they eb and flow throughout life and this is normal. I know there have been times in my life where I wished I wouldn’t have failed, but it’s often in my failures that I’ve learned the most about myself. When we take what we learn and apply it to our next attempt we are closer to success. I was on diets and weight loss programs for over 10 years before I finally figured out I need to change my thinking as a well as my plan. I don’t think it has to take that long for you, and that’s why I’ve created this podcast and my blog so you can from from my process and speed up yours.
3. Failure reminds me that I can’t take success for granted. I’ve lost between 75 and 80 pounds and kept it off many years, but I don’t take it for granted. In fact, I’m currently 5 pounds heavier that I like to be and while no one would say I look heavier, I don’t like how it feels. Is this a failure? I don’t think so, but it is a reminder that I can let my guard down and get back into bad habits. Gaining a few pounds is also a reminder that I need to be vigilant with my health. I know what to do to lose that 5 pounds and I currently back on plan, but a few extra pounds definitely are humbling as I realize if I don’t eat right, my body will pack on the weight.
There is a humbling power in failure in that it reminds me that I’m human and even though I have this blog and a podcast, I still struggle to maintain my weight. The good news that this struggle to lose and maintain our weight is normal and that is isn’t always difficult. There are days, weeks, and months where it’s easier and there are times when it’s more difficult. If keep moving forward in our health goals more than we move backwards, we are still making progress.
If you are currently failing in your health goals, take heart, most of us who have had long term success have failed too. If you keep at it, eventualy you’ll find the right path and mindset to be on. To give you a little boost in your process, I encourage you to click on the tab, How to Lose and Maintain Weight. In that section of my website I provide a simple strategy for implementing and evaluating a weight loss plan, plus mental strategies that will lead to more success.
Don’t let failure get you too down, rather use it’s humbling power to work hard, do your best, and never give up.