Failure...is the ONLY option

Do you have goals?

Do you want to reach those goals?

Do you want to succeed at them?

Then prepare to fail.

I mean it.  I mean, actually PREPARE for it.  If you think the path to success is a straight, upward trajectory, your first setback will be your last one, because you’ll QUIT.  Failure is not an option…it is the ONLY option.  QUITTING is what is not an option.  Remember, Today is not the day you’re going to quit.  But it sure as hell might be the day you fail…just ONE of the days you’re going to fail.

Listen folks.  The formula for success looks like this:

Failure^ⁿ = SUCCESS

Take getting into peak physical form, for example.  It doesn’t matter where you start from, you will have setbacks.

You will fall off the diet wagon and eat pizza and ice cream.

You will cheese off of your workouts while on vacation.

You will injure yourself running and be ordered off of your feet for six weeks.

You will have a major life crisis and be unable to do anything but eat chocolate and cry for a solid month.

YOU ARE GOING TO ENCOUNTER THESE CHALLENGES.  And it’s not the challenges that will derail you.  It’s the failure to accept, in advance, that they’re coming, and plan for them.

So how do you plan for the unexpected?  The unforeseeable?  Simple.

You decide RIGHT NOW that they don’t matter, that they won’t stop you, and that the minute you’re past the weak diet moment, or the vacation lazies, or the injury or the life crisis, you will get RIGHT BACK ON THE WAGON. 

That’s it.  That’s all.  You will decide that Today is not the day you’re going to quit, and neither is the day after any of those challenges.  You’ll look forward, you’ll know they’re lurking in the shadows, you will shrug, you will turn your face to the sun and you will Keep Calm and Carry On.  And when they happen, you will already know what you’re going to do.

And what you’re NOT going to do, is QUIT.

Failure is the only option, people.  Building on those failures is what makes for success.  Nothing worth having or doing is easy, straightforward, and without its challenges and pitfalls.  The rewards are so much more than worth it, though. 

So today, I want you to assess your goals, and all the ways you might fail to reach them.  Accept that some of those things may happen to you.  Then resolve that none of those failures and setbacks will be excuses to quit.  Life really isn’t a spectator sport.  If you think that, in the locker rooms, the coaches of the world aren’t showing their teams what to do if x, y or z bad thing happens in the game, you’re sadly mistaken.  Why should your playbook read any differently?  Failure is the only option, if you want to succeed…so bank on it, plan for it, save up your willpower and fortitude for the rainy day you know is coming…and in so doing, make your dreams a reality.

It’s the last day of nice weather for a few days, so use what daylight’s left, hit the streets and get in a good run!  Don’t think about it, friends, Just GO!