What holds you back from unleashing the greatness within you? What barriers do you have in your life that keep you bounded? Have you come to grips with them? What are you doing to knock them down and live?
For me, it's been the fear of failure. Many times I've been my own worst enemy. The high expectations of myself have created a shelf for which I've been scared to step from. My successes from my past, yes the past, have set daunting standards for my future. But instead of using those as motivation and BELIEF in self, I've lulled myself into inaction. I retired from the Navy after 23 years with the desire to do more, be more, help more people, leave a bigger legacy. What if I fail? What if I'm not as good as I used to be? What if I try and I don't succeed? I'm sure these are common thoughts for many people.
But what I've realized is that we can't have Success without Failure. We need Failure to learn from, to grow from, to calibrate our path to Success. Now looking back at my Navy career I see that I had those stumbles, poor performances, and failures that motivated me to achieve success, which I did. And I'll do it again! How many times did Thomas Edison "fail" before he invented the lightbulb?
John Maxwell said in his book Failing Forward, "The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure."
You never fail as long as you pick yourself up, learn from your past and continue forward towards your goals.
What failures from your past have brought you success in the present or will in your future? My wish is that you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and achieve Success in everything you do.
Thank you for reading. - Reggie