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- this is the next step after failure.
this is the next step after failure.
Yahallo, upstarts!
The first step is admitting it. You have failed. You made a mistake.
Face it. Everyone fails. But what separates the future winners from future losers are those who follow these 5 steps after they’ve failed.
Today, in less than 5 minutes, the agenda is designed to:
Today’s agenda is designed to:
☑ Get you to acknowledge your failure
☑ Move you past your failure
☑ Get you started. Now.
The item on this week’s agenda
This week, the agenda is all about acknowledging and moving past failure. It’s time to take that step.
This is guided reflection combined with action. You’re going to find out what made you fail and then move to fix it. It’s a step by step process, keep up.
Follow the mission, buckle up and ready your fingers to type into the reply box of this email. Or a journal or something. You’ll benefit a lot from typing down your response and doing the work, it’ll be great.
🚀 MISSION DESCRIPTION 🚀 Step 1. What did you fail in? Be specific. Step 2. What made you fail? List out the external circumstances that led to the failure. Step 3. What made you fail? Part 2. List out the internal actions that you did that led to the failure. Step 4. How can you avoid the external circumstances? Who should you approach to help you? Where would it be better to be? When is the best time to do it? Step 5. How can you avoid doing the actions that led to the failure? Who or what should you approach to help you? Where would it be better to be? When is the best time to do it? Step 6. What should you do right now? Step 7. Do it. | 👊 EXAMPLE 👊 Step 1. I failed to update my newsletter on time. I failed to tweet on time. I disappoint myself. Step 2. I got sick. I felt helpless after missing my deadlines. I felt so much anxiety when trying to get back to normal. Step 3. I procrastinated by gaming instead of getting back to work. I procrastinated by watching youtube videos instead of getting back to work. I stress-ate instead of getting back to work. Step 4. I can avoid getting sick by improving my lifestyle. Eating healthy and exercising more will improve my general wellbeing and prevent sickness. Step 5. I can just sit in front of my work station. I just need to let the negative emotions flow through me without allowing myself to procrastinate or get distracted. Step 6. I need to catch up on the work I missed being sick and being anxious about not being caught up. Step 7. I’m working on the newsletter right now. |
Failure is a thing that happens. Believe me, I know.
I don’t know if you noticed but… these steps on the agenda are quite blunt and personal. That’s on purpose.
Failure is a deeply personal thing. But it is our reaction to failure that determines whether you can succeed in the future or continue failing.
I mentioned that the most important thing is to admit that you’ve failed. That’s why step 1 is asking you to be specific about what you have failed in. Not only does it make you admit that you’ve failed, but it also makes you think about what exactly you have failed in.
Steps 2 and 3 focus more on the situation. How did the circumstances lead to your failure? If we want to fix it, we need to change those circumstances.
Step 2 is all about the external circumstance that caused the failure… because it happens. Life sometimes just hits you in the face for no reason.
Step 3 is about the stuff internally that you can change that could have made a difference: your actions. At the end of the day, those are the things we can control, and taking responsibility is a big step towards change.
The next steps, Steps 4 and 5, look to the future. What can you do next? How can you succeed next time instead of fail? By thinking of ways to get around both external and internal factors, you can hopefully succeed next time.
This is making use of a concept in psychology called the circles of influence. Among all the things that happen in this world, there are things we can control, all within the circle of control. The things we can’t directly control but have some way of influencing lay within the circle of influence. Last is everything else: the things we have no control over.
Even if things happen outside your zone of control, it doesn’t mean you can’t take action to mitigate the effects of those things. Your actions can have more of an effect than you think. Sometimes focusing on the things you can influence will have the greatest impact on your overall outcome.
Of course, Step 6 and Step 7, the last two steps, are all about action. You need to move forward. It’s time to act. Even if you want to move something with your circle of influence, in the end, it still needs to start from your circle of control.
I hope this was all helpful for you as it was for me. Let’s do our best to move past failure into growth.
So what now?
If you were convinced, get on that agenda’s mission right now. Let’s improve our lives together.
Failure is inevitable. We can either let it control us and succumb to learned helplessness or find a way to fight back into growth.
If you can, let me know how this week’s agenda went for you, so that I can sleep better knowing that this actually helped. And you can sleep better knowing you were able to change your life for the better.
Upstart tangents…
🧠 Listen and learn: A lot of this agenda was inspired by Dr. K talking about wanting to focus. My favorite part is when he talked about wanting to want to focus. That really moved me.
😣: I had a pretty nasty ear infection where I could barely look anywhere without wincing in pain. Thankfully, the medicines worked… Before I knew it, a week had passed, and then a month, and I’d missed a whole ton of deadlines I set for myself when I was high motivation a few weeks ago. I wasted about another week moping. The whole day, I was biting my lips trying to force myself to get back. To stop pussyfooting. I literally did an embarrassing transform dance to force myself back. Ironically, that’s what pushed me back to the keyboard. I just transformed back into the Corrin who’s doing his best. Well, the one that’s trying to do his best…
You’re an upstart with an agenda…
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