Unpacking Lessons Learned – Failure is an Event Not Your Identity

Have you ever had that feeling? You’ve tried your hardest to do that right thing exactly the way you have been told only to find that you have failed. The door closes for the job, you’re fired, a child goes wayward, your finances plummet- the list could go on. It is easy to have those events come up on us and cause us to find our identity in them.  The key is to remember this one thing –

“Failure is an event, not a person.” – Zig Ziglar

The situation that you had occur isn’t the definition of who you are as a person. It is the direct result of a situation that happened to you. For example, in our current situation, it would be easy for me to take being let go from a job to mean that I could never be employed again. Pretty harsh way to see it, right? I know that’s how I felt at first. However, I know that it is far from the truth. What do you do to get around that monster? I asked myself five questions;

1. Did I do the best that I could?
2. Did I have a good attitude?
3. Did I understand what was asked of me?
4. What could I do to have changed the outcome, if anything?
5. What are the takeaways from my employment?

Each of these questions do not define my self-worth. Notice, these questions, when answered, open up the opportunity for only to improve.