Tip #6: No Matter What Happens To You Failure Is An Inside Job

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You cannot determine what will come your way. You can’t control the hands you’re dealt, only how you play the cards. It’s not the size of the problem, but how you handle the problem. A man is not defeated by his opponents but by himself. No matter how daunting the circumstances of your life may be, the greatest battle you wage against failure occurs on the inside, not the outside.

Positive Attitude
The first element in winning the internal battle against failure is a positive outlook. People who bounce back are optimists. You can become a more optimistic person by learning the secret of contentment. If you can learn that, you can weather the storm and build on the good you find in any situation.

Our culture actually discourages the idea of contentment by focusing on material possessions. People are continually bombarded with the message, “What you have isn’t enough. You need more – a bigger house, a better car, a larger salary, whiter teeth, sweeter breath, nice clothes… But possessing healthy contentment, not materials, is essential to being able to withstand failure.

Contentment is NOT:
Containing Your Emotions
Although you don’t want to let your intentions run amok, you shouldn’t try to stuff them either. Denial doesn’t help you become content.

Maintaining Your Current Situation
Don’t become satisfied with your current situation, whether it’s bad or good. Always strive to improve something and grow as a person. In any situation, try to have a good attitude as you work toward your goal.

Attaining Position, Power, or Possessions
Expect the best in everything – not the worst.
Remain upbeat – even when you get beat up.
See solutions in every problem – not problems in every solution.
Believe in yourself – even when others believe you failed.
Hold on to hope – even when others say it’s hopeless.

Positive Action
If you think positively and do nothing, you will not be able to fail forward. You must add positive action to a positive attitude. The key to positive action is to know the difference between a problem and a fact of life. A problem is something that can be solved. A fact of life is something that must be accepted.

If you want to achieve, you have to win the war in your thinking first. You can let the failure outside get inside you. You can’t control the length of your life, but you can control its width and depth. You can’t control the contour of your face, but you can control its expression. Why worry about the things you can’t control when you can keep yourself busy controlling the things that depend on you? There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

If you have a bitter, pessimistic attitude and blame all of life’s disappointments and failures on everything else, you allow failure to seize you from the inside. Handicaps can only disable us if we let them. This is true not only pf physical challenges, but of emotional and intellectual ones as well. Real and lasting limitations are created in our minds, not our bodies.

YOUR SIXTH STEP:
Don’t Let Failure From Outside Get Inside You
What in your life have you considered to be the greatest source of frustration and failure? List all the difficulties associated with it, then decide whether each is a fact of life (which you need to accept and them move beyond) or an item that required action. For any item needing action, write down what you ought to do to create positive change in your life. Then vow to do it cheerfully.

Reply below to share your experiences. How did you feel after completing step six?  Was it difficult for you to do?  Are you working on creating a positive change in you life?   What do you think about these suggestions? Let us know! =)

Today’s Success Tip…
Life is not simply holding a good hand. Life is playing a poor hand well.
-Danish Saying

With You On Your Journey…

NOTE: This is the 6th Mindset Tip in the series of a chapter by chapter summary of the book, “Failing Forward: Turning