One-Year Tightrope » Motivation

Half the Battle: Fail forward

Michael — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:42:49 +0000

Image by shaggy359 via Flickr

Unfortunately and ironically, fear of failure leads to inaction and inaction leads to failure. Stagnation makes people lose out on opportunities and makes companies lose out to innovative competitors. Don’t stay in the same place for too long, or you’ll be left in the past.

It sounds true, deep, and like a sound solution, but for some people, the anxiety is tougher to break than words about how miserable their fear is going to make them. That’s who this post is for.

Moving forward is the process that I see leading to success. I want to avoid inaction and stagnant lack of progress. I want to always continue striding forward even when my stride turns into a trudge. I want what you want: success.

When the going gets tough and I don’t feel like I’ll ever make it to success, I have given up in the past. People become discouraged or even depressed when they don’t feel like things are going their way or that they’ve done badly. They stop moving. They stop trying. They see failure.

Thing is, our options are limited to two: moving forward and moving toward loss. You may think people who sense failure have stopped moving out of fear. They haven’t. They’re still moving. They’re just moving toward loss.

On the other hand, those who are failing by doing the wrong things are still moving toward success. It’s just going to take them a little longer to get there.

Failing is part of the process.

The trick is to fail forward. Make progress in your failures – your short-comings, your misplannings, your mistakes.

You may not want to take risks, but you have to. Everything is risky. Doing nothing is risky.

Now go do something.

Do You Worry About Karma?

Michael — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 04:14:35 +0000

So, as a quasi-Buddhist, I sometimes find myself worrying about what kind of energy I am sending out into the universe. They say that everything we send out to others we get back, or get back 10-fold, depending on which belief system we subscribe to. If this is accurate, sending out positive actions leads to blessings while doing negative things in the lives of others leads to curses.

With such a belief, I cannot help but wonder what my balance is between positivity and negativity. I find myself doing positive things for selfish reasons. I help others because I believe it will benefit myself. This is not intentional. Rather, it is the result of being an enlightened egoist. I cannot help but be somewhat selfish.

So I wonder, reader, do you worry about karma? What kind of energy are you sending out into the universe? Do you feel like you do a good job of keeping your actions positive, or do you think you could be a little more “good” in your intentions sometimes?

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Where Do You Find Motivation?

Michael — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:56:44 +0000

Motivation is a major key to success. Whether trying to buy a new house, get a promotion at work, become balanced, or otherwise, being motivated to work toward your goals is an important requisite.

My question for you today is that of where you find your motivation. How do you stay happy when things try to bring you down? How do you take a step toward your goals every day?

On Getting Discouraged

Michael — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:57:59 +0000

I am certain I am not the only one out there who has become discouraged at some point in life. I am also certain that I am not the only one completely lost as to how to repair it when it happens. I know it is possible to become motivated again, though, because people do it all the time. While they do not share the secret, they do let us know that things are better for them than how things once were.

This post is not long or informative. It is an announcement. I am embarking on a new journey to try to reclaim my motivation and encouragement from myself. I want to wake up one day excited and happy, just like I used to.

And when I find out how to do this, I will share it with all of you.

What do you do to get yourself motivated? How do you avoid getting discouraged?

One-Year Tightrope » Motivation

Half the Battle: Fail forward

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Do You Worry About Karma?

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Where Do You Find Motivation?

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On Getting Discouraged

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