I was so nervous the first time I took my driving test. I thought about all the things that could go wrong. Because of that just about all of them did.
The second time I took it I had the polar opposite attitude. I practiced so much I thought there was no way I could fail again. But I did. Pretty bad, actually.
The third time was the charm for me. I had the right balance of knowing what could go wrong (having experienced it twice before), practicing a ton, and have a positive, but not cocky attitude.
After I got my license I took some time to think about what went wrong the first two times. There were a few factors in play, but the one I think hurt me the most was thinking I couldn’t fail. And that’s where I think failure starts:
Failure begins with thinking you can’t fail.
Part of my problem was over-analyzing all the things that could go wrong. Still is sometimes. But my biggest problem was thinking at the end of the day SOMEHOW I would get my license because I was entitled to it.
Chances are you may have fee; that way about certain things from time to time, too.
Maybe you thought you were entitled to that promotion at work because you’ve “put in your time”, but someone younger whose been there a lot less got it instead.
Maybe you thought you were entitled to a great marriage even though you can’t remember the last time you did something for your spouse without expecting anything back.
Maybe you thought you were entitled to kids who do what you always say because you always did what you were told.
Or maybe you’re entitled to the new iPhone because yours is “old.”
Or you entitled to lose weight even though you haven’t put in the time to eat right or exercise.
We all feel entitled to certain things sometimes.
But that’s where failure starts. The unrealistic expectation things we’ll work out for us in the end because we’re us. Because most things have worked out for us in the past, they’ll probably work out for us in the future. But that’s not always true. We can’t get the results without the work.
If you think you can’t fail, you already have.
Jeff McClung 