How often do you dwell on past failures? If you're anything like the average person, it's a lot. We find ourselves ruminating over our mistakes. We worry about not being good enough all the time. But is this really helping us?
It might seem like dwelling on our failures will help us avoid them in the future, but that isn't always true.
In this blog post, we'll discuss why looking back at your mistakes can actually keep you trapped, and prevent you from moving forward towards success!
Dwelling sucks up all your energy.
When we focus all of our energy on what went wrong in the past, it becomes harder for us to see future successes that could be just around the corner. What's more, being stuck reliving old mistakes prevents you from learning and growing as a person or entrepreneur. It stops your momentum dead in its tracks! Instead, learning how to let go can actually allow you to move forward with complete confidence and positivity towards success.
Also, as obvious as this sounds, spending time ruminating on past failures is a time-waster. This creates a negative feedback loop because you're down on yourself for one single failure…but then you get stuck in a "self-pity spiral"…that will lead to more missed opportunities if you can't move on from it! (We know, easier said than done. That's why we are just about to hit you with some positive strategies for dealing with failures or setbacks.
Dwelling stops you from seeing "failure" for the SMALL thing that it is.
The word "failure" has some pretty negative connotations. But, failure is inevitable! You're going to mess up or get rejected at some point in your life. Instead of thinking about these past failures as a "negative mark against you", think about them as an opportunity for growth and learning. Failure is the way we learn from our mistakes. Acknowledge that not every decision will work out—and it’s OKAY not to be perfect. It's true that everyone makes mistakes sometimes (we all do). And acknowledging this can help us move forward with positivity towards future goals, instead of letting one thing stand in the way of everything else we want to accomplish.
Dwelling blinds you from seeing the AWESOME woman in the mirror.
What helps most when you're feeling like you want to dwell on a failure is reminding yourself just how far you've come. Have you made $100k in revenue from sales since starting your business? Have you been able to repay a loan from your business? Do you have an awesome testimonial from a customer about how you changed their life? Do you have friends and family telling you you seem happier since starting your business? ALL of these things are big accomplishments you should be proud of!
So instead of dwelling, make a list. Create goals for the future and think about what you can do to get there! Think back on your failures, but don't regret them or beat yourself up over them. Instead, use those moments as lessons learned that will help you out in the future. You are not some sort of robot who never makes any mistakes. You're a human being who makes lots of mistakes and will keep on makin' 'em…we all are. 😉 (And that's why we all have to help each other out!)
Here at She Reigns Creative, we want to help you move on to bigger and better things. We value our clients and vow to be the one agency that works full-stack on all of your marketing so that you can focus on the bigger picture, and achieve the wild successes you only dreamed of before! To book a free call with Steve, just click here. We'd love to talk to you and hear more about your business!
