How to create purpose and direction in 2022: Part 3

You have your goal. You have your plan. Now, you need to learn how to fail because:

 

• Failure is a matter of when not if.
• You cannot and will not hit your goal without failure.
• Your goal is a puzzle and each failure is an invitation to collect a new puzzle piece (once you find the lesson).

 

First, the TL;DR version of how to fail:

1. Get curious about why you didn't do what you wanted to do from the lens of curious compassion, consistently 
2. Notice the fail
3. Create a plan with what you learned

 

Let's dive into how to put this into action:

 

First, I like to think of this process as putting the fail under a microscope. But before you examine the fail, you need to adjust the lens intentionally. The lens of compassionate curiosity is the most clear.

If you don't adjust your lens on purpose, you'll look at the fail through a critical & judgmental lens. This lens is foggy. You won't be able to learn much at all if you use this lens.

 

The next thing you're going to want to do is pick one day per week to examine your fails (I recommend Fridays). You want this to become a habitual part of your week.

 

Finally, asking yourself the four questions below will allow you to examine the fails to extract what you need to learn from each so you can hit your goal.

The four questions:

 

1. What lessons or takeaways or problems did I solve for that moved me closer to my goal this week?

2. Where am I still getting stuck/repeating the same mistakes/breaking promises to myself?

3. What ONE thing do I want to focus on/shift/change next month that will get me closer to my goal?

4. How will I know if I've shifted that one thing/made progress on it when I ask myself these same questions at the end of next week? (This is number 3 above, creating a new plan with what you learned.)

 

*CAVEAT*

DO NOT EXPECT THIS PROCESS TO FEEL GOOD OR EASY. It won't. It will feel like hard work, especially at first. And because it'll feel like hard work, you'll want to gloss over it and tell yourself, "I'll just do it later," or "I'll get back on track tomorrow".

Do it anyway. If you commit to this process, you WILL hit your goals. Guaranteed.

 

Alright! You have your goal. You have your plan. You know how to fail. There's one more piece you need to hit your goals: how to navigate out of goal procrastination. Just like failure, procrastination is a matter of when, not if. Tomorrow, you'll learn what to do when it shows up.

 

See you then my friend!

Happy New Years Eve!

Gretta

P.S. Loving this series? This is the tip of the iceberg of the work we'll do together. If you're ready to make your goal inevitable, schedule a consult here.