The Positive Energy Workplace

What does failure have to do with action?

I wrote an article on daring to celebrate failure. I spoke about the learning and growth and opportunities that we can find when we allow ourselves to really celebrate and learn from our failures.

A couple of months later, I'm curious how that's settled for readers. Curious what that article, the exercise provided, and the invitation to truly celebrate failure may have brought up for you. Resistance? Permission? A sigh of relief? Just notice. Whatever it brought up, it's just perfect. Failure's a big topic, right? Fear of failure, even bigger. Here is what I notice with people and failure.

I notice that the perspectives we hold about situations, design our pain levels. Failure is truly a place where lots of pain can lie for an individual - but what's an even greater pain, is the time before the failure spent "making up", imagining, believing, envisioning that failure.

How do you keep your team engaged? How do you personally stay engaged? In your work? At home? In your personal life? In your fitness regime? It’s easy to “check out”…especially with so many competing demands. So how do you stay “fully engaged?”

Have you ever had any of these experiences?

~ You drive home from work and then don't remember how you got there.

~ You sit through a meeting and can't account for what happened in the meeting, the outcome or the details.

~ You read a book to your child or grandchild and can't recall what the book was about.

~ You workout and have so much mind chatter that you're not even sure what muscles you were working.

~ You have a conversation with a colleague and miss the important undercurrents of that conversation because you're mind was elsewhere.

Last week I was in Tucson, AZ working with my business coach and a couple of my master mind colleagues. We get together a couple of times a year, in person, and regularly (on the phone) to discuss our businesses, plan, work through challenges and stay focused in creating results and outcomes in our companies.

I've been involved in Master Minds in one way or another for about 6 years now and I find them an essential part of my success as a leader in my business. I've also found them to be an essential part of my client's successes in the group programs and master minds I've hosted in my programs. It's the power of people and the power of 5 brains (or 3 or 8 or 10) that is even better than just one. The support, ideas and solutions that come out of these groups is nothing short of fascinating. The Master Mind (MM) Experience isn't for everyone, some prefer the private and individual attention of private coaching or even a combination of the two, but when the MM resonates, it resonates!

Stressed out about the economy right now? Politics? Housing? Business expenses? Taxes?
Waiting, hoping, praying it will all just go away?

Colluding with friends, family and co-workers about how bad it is? Regurgitating stories? Gathering evidence? Again, waiting for someone else to do something about it?

Things are uncertain right now. No doubt. The economy is down. Things we care about are certainly taking a hit. It can be easy to get fixated on fear, frustration and hurt. It can be easy to find what's not working and speculate on how much worse it's going to get.

Despite a positive attitude, even the most optimistic can be challenged during times like this.