Why Failing is Good and Important

What is failure and why is this an important topic for the Stay Fit Mom community to talk about? 

Failure is defined as, “A lack of success.”

“The state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective.”

We see many clients report “I failed” in their check-ins and to be fair we are measuring our clients’ performance every week across many data points and many opportunities to “fail.”

Our clients’ macro tracking consistency is quantifiable. We measure and monitor water intake, steps, vegetable intake, sleep, etc. And while these measurable action steps can propel our clients towards incredible success, admittedly falling short on any of these measurable goals is a high probability. You must report either “perfection” or “I did not hit ‘X’ goal and I could’ve done better.” This self reflection is a “score card.”  Some people may review their “score card” and move right along thinking, “I failed, but I’ll try again next week” while others can internalize their “score card” and feel defeated and deflated. If you are in the latter category, this post is for you!

“If you embrace failure as part of the process, this is where you can be the most creative and innovative, where the most interesting things happen.” -Author Unknown

The Stay Fit Mom community is innovative.  That’s right, YOU just by being here, are innovative because you are trying to drive change in your life. That is not easy. In fact, change from within is the hardest thing that we can do. Failure must be an expected part of that journey. If we are all here at SFM to drive transformational change, without failure we would not learn what works and what does not. 

When reading for prep for this topic I came across a lot of stories of scientists working through the experimental process. In experiments they: 

• Identify a desired outcome
• They test the experiment
• Fail 
• Make adjustments
• Test the adjustments
• Fail 
• Change something again
• Fail
• Repeat over and over until they hopefully get to the right outcome

As we fail and fail again it’s important that we take time at the end of each week to self reflect. What are you learning from your failures? Ask yourself…

• “Where did that go wrong?”
• “What were some of those roadblocks (events, family visits, sickness, travel, etc) in front of me that I could handle better the next time that happens again? 

Failure is part of the process but what we don’t want to see is our clients using success or failure to gauge their sense of self worth. How you talk to yourself matters. Instead of falling into despair and/or letting past failures paralyze you, spend time actively reflecting each week on why you didn’t achieve your goal for the week. Learn, adjust, try something different, repeat. Each week is a NEW week. Every week we get a new scorecard and every week you get to determine what your goals and priorities are. Learn more about how to align your priorities and systems for success HERE. 

Two popular concepts of failure are: 

1. Fail Forward.  This is a journey of learning. When a person embraces failing as a stepping stone for future successes then you have chosen to value every failure for the lessons learned and then apply those lessons in future efforts. Know your purpose, practice and be persistent. 
2. Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset

• Growth Mindset: Failure is an opportunity to grow. I can learn to do anything I want.  Challenges help me grow.
• Fixed Mindset: Failure is the limit of my abilities. I’m either good at it or not, I either can do it or I can’t. I give up when I’m frustrated. I don’t like to be challenged. If you find yourself jumping from one diet program to another hoping for something magically different to happen and this macro counting program just seems like another failed endeavor, it’s time for some self reflection. 

Top 5 Common Reasons for failure

This should help you to pinpoint where you see areas for improvement in your own journey. 

1. Your habits are holding you back. Learn more about Habit stacking and counting Macros HERE.
2. You are setting your goals wrong. Do we need to think smaller? Do we need to write them down? Learn more about Goals, Systems and Priorities HERE. 
3. You don’t truly believe you can do it. You need to create the belief. Learn more about Shifting Your Mindset HERE.
4. You are giving up too soon. Learn more about Pushing Through a Plateau HERE.
5. You lack discipline. Get planning and prepping in the kitchen with our meal prep ideas HERE.  

Check out the list above and pinpoint what change you can make today that will most help move you forward! 

Remember that failure is not only inevitable, but it’s necessary. Failure is good and important. You are an innovator and when failure comes, so will great change when we learn from every set back.