“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”
– J.K Rowling
Have you ever failed at something?
Of course you have and we all have at some point in our lives. But the deeper question to ask is: When you failed, why did you fail?
The answer you give is a window into the story you tell yourself about why you are where you are at in your life. The story you tell yourself protects you from the pain and suffering of why it isn’t your fault. But the story that is protecting you is also the story that imprisons you as it keeps you from changing your life.
Thus your story can either create barriers holding you back or be the catalyst that propels you to the next level in your life.
Author Joanne Kathleen Rowling is a wonderful example of how powerful the story we tell our self can be in our life. According to Rowling herself:
“By every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.”
Despite being a "Failure" she went from living on welfare to become one of the worlds wealthiest women. After she began writing the first Harry Potter novel, what followed was six tumultuous years of hardship – First loosing her mother, then moving to Portugal and returning to England after a failed marriage and with a child. Jobless, penniless and living on welfare she received rejection after rejection from book publishers until finally one publisher gave the green light for Harry Potter to be published...under one request – She go by J.K Rowling since women’s names were found to be less appealing to the male target audience...
During this time she could quite easily have created a story built on limiting beliefs of blame and self pity. However, despite all of the pain, loss, sorrow and rejection she has gone on to sell over 400 million Harry Potter books and is worth an estimated $1 billion…and they said you could never make any money being a writer!!
“Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.” J.K Rowling
If we are going to be successful in anything, we have to come up with a better story for our lives. A story that creates a call to action. Because I can tell you this...If you are creative enough, determined enough, care enough, are bold enough, strong enough and disciplined enough, you CAN find an answer to your problems!!
Rewrite your story to one that will strengthen you, push you and empower you to go beyond anything you have ever done in the past because your unlimited power lies within you waiting to be shown to the world.
Choose to make today a GREAT day and always choose to Live Life 2 The Max!
Wishing you well on your success journey...
Max