Go Ahead and Admit You Failed

Say it out loud: I failed. It's not such a bad thing.

I failed. I failed. I failed.

• Failure alone doesn't make you a bad person.

• Failure alone doesn't make you a lesser person.

• Failure means you failed at this thing, at this moment, right here.

Then, you can move on. Every day that you breathe, you get another opportunity to excel.

We make almost everything in our head bigger than it is. Even if your failure was monumental, chances are that schools will still open, babies will still be born, and people will still bring 18 items to the 15 item check-out line at the grocery store.

There was a standard. You did not meet it. Okay.

It's important to admit what we did not or could not do, right along with what we nailed.

Maybe that's one of the reasons I love the gym so much. It's a safe place to fail and to learn from failing.

• Determine the standard.

• Try to meet it.

• Note what happened.

Learn, adjust, go again. Nobody's perfect in the gym or in life. Stop playing that story in your head.