Have you ever failed at something? It could have been an exam that you failed or a project that was unsuccessful or maybe you failed at sports? How did you react then? Were you dismayed? Did you feel defeated? In what frame of mind did you go to your next exam, start a new project or pick up another sports discipline? I often hear people complain about having bad luck or being on a losing streak. They say: “I’ve failed in this once, I just can’t do this!”

Think about this: if every child learning to walk gave up at the first failed attempt, how many people could walk today?

It is a great idea to learn from the past, as long as the lessons are constructive and support us in our development. However, if past experiences demotivate and discourage us, we don’t learn anything. We just get discouraged and we allow the bad memories to negatively influence us.

Learning from past events is limited to:

• Observing what happened
• Understanding how various things interacted with each other
• Recognizing what didn’t work  in order to be able to try a different approach next time
• Learning from the past doesn’t mean being embarrassed, chastising oneself, or giving up!

You can try to do things again with a new and different approach and see what happens. Whether things work out this time or not, you will have still taken an important step forward and you may have learnt that this new approach doesn’t work either. And with this knowledge you can try again, and one day you will succeed! Or perhaps you will have luck and succeed the first time you try the new approach and you will be able to celebrate your success.

There is no such thing as a losing streak. There is only the lost faith and the lost confidence in you own ability to do things right, which is enough to engage in self-sabotage and to allow the “self-fulfilling prophecy” attitude.

After each failure tell yourself: “The past is not the future and now I am one step closer to the solution or to the success!”

Good luck!

Quotes

When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.

Hugh White

Those who face that which is actually before them, unburdened by the past, undistracted by the future, these are they who live, who make the best use of their lives; these are those who have found the secret of contentment.

Alban Goodier

More than the past I am interested in the future because that's where I intend to live.

  Albert Einstein