3 Cookies @ 11:30

Failure. Defeat. Frustration. Collapse. Floundering. Mistakes. Oversight. These are powerful words and very descriptive of not completing something and not achieving or thriving. Are any of you feeling these words a month into the new year?

Raises hand slowly… 

I’m just as guilty of this as the next person regarding goals/resolutions. I even wrote a post about it. My last post talked about goals and setting resolutions. I set out this year to lay off the sweets (especially around the station and office) and to improve how I ended emails (with a better and more inviting ending to bolster feedback). It was not a goal, it wasn’t actionable or calculatable, and I didn’t write it down. Guess what, less than a month later I am doing neither. Four cookies before bed sounded like a pretty great idea last night. 

Am I a failure? 

We give too much credit and view failure in a negative light far too often, even when it is trivial. Given power, failure can derail our entire mission or leave us thinking about how we will execute a plan. Mistakes and shortfalls happen; it's part of life. What I do after the "fall" is more important than actually falling off the no-sweet wagon; the same is true for your "falls."

As a whole, failure is the terrible boogieman in the room that nobody wants to deal with or be associated with. Falling short of something is only an instant message announcing you were "wrong" or didn't make a great decision. Failure comes if we don't try again or we allow our decision(s) to guide the next one. 

If after my five-cookie binge, I throw out the entire plan then I have "failed." In changing my thinking to "I am going to add an extra mile to my ruck run or add 15 minutes to my work out," failure is averted through a redirection to stay the course. My resolution to stay off the sweets it's reimagined into counting calories by implementing a better workout process and being diligent in balancing what I eat and how much I work out to account for the extra calories. Failure, defeat, or collapse would be having the six-cookie binge at 11:30 and giving up completely on the resolution, not learning from it, and not reimagining it into something achievable.

There have been many studies and documentation about the power of the mind, including the incredible abilities the mind has on the body and the affects redirecting negative thoughts can create. We all struggle with the ups and downs and challenges that arise. When we redirect the guilt of eating those seven cookies into positive action, then our goals and resolutions become constantly achievable with growth and change becoming a steady byproduct. Over the course of a year what once seemed impossible becomes a path that will help us achieve mountain tops that we could not have imagined or viewed from where we were.

My hope with this blog is that we turn that eight-cookie overindulge into something that becomes a small bump in the road rather than an impassable obstacle. In the not-so-distant future, I hope to elaborate on this idea with a post from Shawn Achor and his TEDx talk about “The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brain Performance.”

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Christopher Ayer is a Firefighter/ Firefighter Type 1/ Paramedic for Corona De Tucson Fire Department in Tucson Arizona. The expressions and views are those of the author.