In life, many of us have several goals and accomplishments that we may want to tackle. What many of us don’t realize is that, along this journey toward our goals we never know what we may encounter. Life takes turns for the better and sometimes for the worse. Both our triumphs and our struggles may lead us to face a bump in the road which may slow the process towards our goals. Does it mean that we are failures because we didn’t achieve our goals within a certain time frame? Does it mean we should give up and not proceed with what we have in mind? Does it mean that the goal will never be attainable? Absolutely NOT!!!!! It means that this is just life, and if we really want something in life we get through whatever obstacles are presented to us to achieve our dreams.
When presented with this quote while writing this piece:
“Your success is determined by how much you can really learn from your failures,”
{Joel Brown}
I truly believed these words wholeheartedly. It took me back to a time when I wanted to attend college but the one person who paid for my education had been diagnosed with cancer. Terminal cancer. I knew that me not reaching my goal to receive my Master’s degree would NOT determine my level of success, but I was the true component to my story that would dictate my own success. My education would not make me successful, I would make myself successful. I knew what I had to do as a scholar, even before I had my Master’s, to feel accomplished. I would work hard to make my work noticed and do right by these children to come out on top!
As a classroom teacher, I have often shared these stories of “inner success” (what I like to call them) with my older students. I find that children feel you’re considered “successful” if you receive a 90 and above on an exam but you’re less-than if the grade is lower. I remind them in that moment that a single grade doesn’t determine your success, YOU determine your level of success! You may have not reached the goal that you set out to reach but you worked as efficiently as possible and you achieved that “inner success” knowing that you tried your very best!
I never look at not reaching my goals as a failure, but more like a motivator. It forces me to reevaluate what I could have done differently, not what I did wrong. In the end, we have to be happy with who we are and the rest will definitely follow! Tell yourself you’re successful and I truly believe you will feel like a success!
Care to share: Share a something that you are feeling successful about lately!