I Have Not Failed

How many times have you told yourself that you have failed? Perhaps you tried something and it didn't work. Maybe you started a business, changed your career, pursued a relationship or followed a dream that didn't turn out as you expected. We are very quick to label these experiences as failures, as though one disappointing result somehow defines us. But what if it doesn't?

Failure is often nothing more than a conclusion we have reached too early. Something didn't work. That is a fact. But deciding that you have failed is a choice.

Every experience teaches you something. Sometimes it teaches you what to do next. Sometimes, even more importantly, it teaches you what not to do again.

The person who succeeds is rarely the person who never gets anything wrong. They are often the person who is prepared to keep going after getting things wrong.

That is why positive thinking doesn't mean believing that everything you attempt will succeed. It means refusing to allow an unsuccessful attempt to become an unsuccessful life.

You can change direction. You can start again. You can take everything you have learned and use it to make your next decision better than the last one.

Think about how different life might feel if you stopped saying, "I failed," and started saying, "That didn't work, so what can I learn from it?"

Those are very different thoughts. One closes the door. The other opens it. So don't judge your entire journey by the moments when things went wrong. You are still learning, still growing and still moving forward.

You haven't failed. You have simply discovered another way that didn't work. Now find the way that does.