If you don’t quit, you can’t fail
“Think of all the beauty you would not have seen if you allowed yourself to stop fighting; if you allowed yourself to give up.” Bianca Sparacino
So simple, and so true. If you don’t quit, there is no way to fail. It just means you are still in progress, on the way to your destination or goal. This does not mean that you have to dig in your heels and not see the truth if it requires you do change direction, pivot or adapt your strategy. But don’t quit. If you don’t give up, it may take you longer than you had hoped or expected, but you will get there. It may take some people twice as long to complete university, finish that marathon, or get into their dream role, job, company. But the ones that “succeed” are the ones who keep going, hacking away at it one step at a time. Baby steps. If you just take one step each day, before you know it, you will have covered more ground than you realize. You will look back and be amazed at how much you actually achieved. It also ties in to the compound effect. If you put money in a savings account that pays interest, as the pot grows, the interest payment gets higher and higher and the effect compounds. Same thing with exercise, healthy eating and other habits. Once you get started and diligently create a habit one baby step at a time, it becomes a matter of compounding benefits.
This short phrase, if you don’t quit, you can’t fail, was something I dug out of my diary from about a year ago. I am about to start the 40 Days to personal revolution program by Baron Baptiste for the second time. Last year this time, my friend told me about it and we did it together. It’s a great program where you commit to practicing yoga for 40 days, eat healthy, and a few other things that become part of a whole system that helps you really reflect and introspect. So, I wanted to go back to my journal and see what insights I gathered from that first 40-day challenge. I remember feeling like each week I really did learn something profound about myself and the program left a lasting impact. To my pleasant surprise, most of the ten main take aways from that challenge I had integrated into my thought process and was implementing them subconsciously. Others, I had to laugh at because I clearly learned the lessons but forgot it, and had to be reminded time and time again. Sometimes the hard way. (One was: the answer always comes, don’t try and control or rush it, or try and force it.) The other lessons from that program can be found in this blog post (I’m publishing that next Monday so watch this space!).
Taking a more philosophical view of the quote this blog starts with, it can be interpreted as don’t give up on life. For those that may feel the darkness is too much to bear, know that if you just take it one moment at a time, this too shall pass. Take a deep breath, remember you are alive. That this is a gift. Reach out to a loved one if you are lucky to have people to reach out to. Call a helpline, journal, scream, shout, cry, curl up in a ball. Go out for a walk. Sit in the sun/outdoors. Do one small thing that may make you feel marginally better. But don’t quit, don’t give up. If you don’t quit, you can’t fail. There is no such thing as failure anyway. Namaste