Most of us have had the experience of failing in a workout. Not the finishing slower than you wanted too or getting tired, I’m talking about missing a lift. When you get under the barbell to attempt for that PR attempt, and you fail. You gave the lift your all and did not make it. This is the type of feeling of failure that I am relating too.
These are the moments we all need to learn to embrace. Weight training is a perfect way to change your mind set about failure. You follow a program every day for weeks or months then you go for a PR attempt. You keep putting yourself under heavier and heavier weight until you are unable to move it anymore. This does not mean you are a failure. This is simply a scale of where your current limit is and what/where you need to train to surpass it.
During training you are just focused on the day’s programming and getting stronger. When it’s time to test the lift you are not worried about the heavier weight because you already put the work in and you are curious to see how much strength you built. When you eventually hit the point of failure you don’t talk down to yourself or dwell on the miss, you simply re-evaluate your plan and figure out what you need to work on for the next time.
Lift often works the same way.
We set goals and create a plan to achieve our goals daily. Some days are easier than others but just like when we are lifting weights, we strive to stay consistent.
We reach some of our goals while others we don’t. Just like lifting weights, failing in the pursuit of our dreams doesn’t make us a failure. It just means we haven’t raised our baseline enough to reach them.
Sometimes we need a new daily plan, sometimes we just need more time or to change our focus.
These are not bad things!
When we miss a PR attempt in the gym, we know we are putting in the work and we know we will come back and get that lift in the future.
This same concept applies to our life goals.
Be challenges to change how you view failure. Life’s failures are simply a speed bump on your way to hitting that new PR in life!