failure analysis

Failure

Happens to all of us

Sometimes all at once, mostly it just sneaks up on us

There was a moment, in the past for most of us, when we had something just the way we liked it. A peak state of health for ourselves, a newness for something we had worked hard to get, a moment in time when everything was right.

Almost invariably it slips away.

Why does this happen?

Perhaps there aren’t very many good answers to that question.

“I don’t know, it just happens!” we think to ourselves.

I am certainly guilty of the offense. Of letting it all slip away.

Here is a reason to consider.

We have a tendency to arrive at premature conclusions. We think we have successfully accomplished something when the truth is that we have only started to reach the accomplishment. We see the light at the end of the tunnel and think we are standing in the bright sunshine.

As soon as we think we are good at something we start coasting. It is a trick of the mind. When you think you are good at something is the moment when you are just starting to get good at it.

A friend and I lost a lot of weight a few years ago. Accomplished a lot. We were getting a lot of compliments.

However we forgot one little thing when we reached our goals, it got lost in the success and the compliments and the feelings of renewed health.

We were still fat men.

We are fatter still today and the work must be redone.

What happened? How did we ultimately fail?

I think we just moved on to some other interest which is a problem for all of us.

A failure to maintain focus.

So the solution, I think, is to decide what is important and to always keep focused on that. Other interests can come and go but they cannot be allowed to displace the most important areas of focus in our lives.

Write down a list of the things you need to focus on. Keep it handy and review it often. Don’t let your focus slip from what is truly important to you.