...and didn’t reach any of them! It isn’t that I didn’t try. It isn’t that I made no progress at all. And it isn’t that I had no accomplishments this year. But the truth is that of the nine goals I had, I didn’t accomplish one. Should I have fewer goals this year? Should I call them intentions instead of goals? Should I freewheel this year and not have any overarching goals? I’ve always told my clients that there is no such thing as failure - only a change in plans. I guess I had a lot of changes in plans this past year.
I’m reading a new book called Conscious Creativity by Philippa Stanton and will be publishing my review later this week. This morning I read something she wrote about failure.
“It’s also very hard not to allow recent disappointments to affect our insecurities, and to use past disappointments to numb ambition and stifle success. Inspirational ‘failures’ like Bill Gates, J.K. Rowling, Steve Jobs or Walt Disney are classic examples of the universal feeling that failure is not final, it is just process. You don’t watch a football match to see every pass end in a fantastic goal. You watch it to see the struggle, the working out, the skill and the emotional failures that then lead to great successes. Whatever point you are at in your life, you have arrived there through a combination of successes and failures, so you should nurture your bravery and enthusiasm and try to accommodate your fears.”
This is something for me to ponder over the next few days as I continue my 2019 planning. Right now, though, I am setting all of this aside.
Our household is still recovering from our colds, so Christmas is a bit subdued around here. We’re both glad we hadn’t made plans that included other people. When I look at the various messes in the world at large, I’m incredibly grateful for my life, my safety, and my opportunities that others are literally giving their lives to have....a sobering Christmas Eve thought.
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