How Do You Know If You've Failed?

We have these sets of personal rules and regulations that are so restrictive and unreasonable that it is no wonder we continually convince ourselves that we have 'failed'. We would never expect our friends or our partner to live up to the same standards.

Being on this Challenge has made me ponder the definition of failure.

Consider these examples where I could have decided I had failed to reach yesterday's goals.

I didn't train yesterday morning because I have an infected wisdom tooth and DOMS - No failure because the circumstances were beyond my control.

I didn't get to 7 hours sleep because I was writing, blogging and getting support from blogworld - no failure because I traded one goal for a better one.

I didn't drink more water than Diet Coke - no failure because I don't really value this goal - so I ditched it permanently.

The only time you fail is when you momentarily give up the fight. When you think "I don't care, it doesn't matter, what's the point, I can't be arsed, I'm sick of this" and you purposely don't do what you know you should. This happens to everyone at some point (which is why you should plan to fail) but afterward you look at what happened, learn a lesson and move on.

Don't beat yourself up if circumstances get in the way, if you find something that is better for you than what you planned or your priorities change.

The truth is that the most valuable thing you learn when you commit to a challenge is how to pay attention. Mindfulness and self awareness is what you are really growing and developing - thinking about what you do and why you do it.

It is not about winning or losing, succeeding or failing, or how many ticks there are on your goal chart. It is about deciding how you want to live and then trying your hardest to be that person.

Guidelines for losing a skinny bone on the challenge.

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