F.A.I.L.

None of us wants to fail.  Yet, everyone fails sometimes.

Take my new year's goal  for example.  I set a goal to track everything I eat, only eat my allotted weight-watcher's points every day, and exercise 5 days a week, thus allowing me to lose those pesky pounds.  It was so perfect too, because the new year started on the first day of the week.  What could be more perfect?  I was very motivated!  I put it on my vision board.

I did not take into account that there was a LOT of junk from Christmas still floating around the kitchen, the kind of chocolate yumminess that makes dieting virtually impossible.  I also did not take into account my son's wedding, also the first week of January, which would not only throw off my exercise schedule, but also present lots of festivities that deter dieting.  And so I failed the very first week.  I did not stick to my plan, my goal, and thus I failed.  Or did I?

Does someone who falls off a bike on their first attempt fail to learn to ride?  Does a baby who falls on their first attempt to take steps fail to learn to walk?  Does a woman who fails the first week of her diet fail to lose weight?  I give you a resounding "no!"

I recently learned a wonderful acronym that puts attempts to succeed into perspective.  F.A.I.L.  This stands for First Attempt In Learning.  In the song from the movie Zootopia "Try Everything" one of the great lines is, "No one learns without getting it wrong".  This is true of virtually everything we do.  We try and get it wrong, then we get up and try again, and again, and again until we succeed.

Allow yourself the chance to learn, to attempt and fail, and attempt again.  After all, the great Abraham Lincoln lost 8 elections before being elected president, and failed twice in business.  Milton Hershey started and failed with three candy companies before he was successful at Hershey's Chocolates.  And then of course there is Thomas Edison, who failed 1,000 times before successfully inventing the light bulb.  When asked how it felt to fail 1,000 times, Edison replied, "I didn't fail 1,000 times.  The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."   He found 999 ways how not to invent a light bulb, but he only needed to find one way to make it work.

Success does not mean that you never fail.  It means that you are persistent until you succeed.

This week I will get up off the ground, track everything I eat, eat only my allotted weight-watcher's points every day, exercise, and use my vision board, thus allowing me to lose those pesky pounds.

Will I do everything the same as last week?  No, I will not.  Because, as you may already know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
I have learned from the mistakes of last week, and have made small changes to help me succeed.  And what if I only succeed 5 out of 7 days?  Is that still a win?  It is a huge win over giving up, is it not?  And I will keep trying until I succeed!

No success is easy, but giving up ensures failure.  So remember F.A.I.L., First Attempt In Learning, and guess what?  You get a second attempt, and a third attempt, and as many as it takes to win your goal.  So hang in there!  You are amazing!  Those goals you set last week are still just as valid.  So get back up and keep going until you succeed.