When have you failed?

Failure happens! Everyone miscalculates, loses focus, gets outwitted or falls victim to the unforeseen forces of nature at some point in their personal endeavors. These setback are too often equated with ultimate failure. The reality is that plans sometimes don't work, but important goals themselves should never fail! If your goal is to lose 25lbs of fat in 12weeks and you only lost 5lbs, this doesn't mean that your goal failed just the plan you used to reach that goal. If your downfall was cheating on your diet, then your new plan should include methods that deal directly with such cheating. If your problem was staying focused, then your new plan should include mechanisms that help keep you on track. Every time a plan fails we are presented with the opportunity to improve our methods and make stronger plans for the future. Here are the keys to success when you hit road blocks:

• Objectivity: The more objectivity you include in your plan, the greater your ability will be to evaluate and asses the effectiveness of such plan. Anytime you can use numerical measures such as weight, reps, % body fat, heart rate, ect... you are removing subjectivity from the evaluation process.
  
• Test and Re-test: You need a point A to determine point B. And if you don't arrive at point B by a pre-chosen time frame you need to consider if your plan is defective or if it doesn't realistically match the pace of your overall goal.
  
• Seek Help: Too many people feel compelled to do everything themselves. Your goal should be important enough to you that you will seek any means necessary to achieve it (assuming the means you take do not harm or disrupt the lives of others). Just because you utilize the power of "collective knowledge" doesn't make you any less intelligent. In fact, nearly all of the greatest successes in history (Lincoln, Carnegie, Edison, ect...) learned how to effectively hone the knowledge of others for their benefit.
• See the Good: As mentioned above, the failure of plans are actually opportunities to learn new things and improve on your methods. Try to open your mind to new ideas and opportunities that arise from you miscalculations. Sometimes your original goal/plan will evolve into something greater than you could have ever imagined. (My goal when I was 16 years old was to lose 40lbs.... now I make my living helping people lose thousands of lbs every year!)

The quicker you can accept and see the opportunity that failure presents to you in your life goals, the quicker you can react and make significant changes! Failure happens, live with it!