How to Fail Successfully

Greetings Intrepid Creators!

Here's my holistic approach to making the most of our failed attempts at just about anything:

Practical Steps to Take
First, think through the risks involved before you embark on the project. What reserves will you need in order to bounce back if things don't work out as you planned? Money, energy, time, self-confidence, flexibility? What is your Plan B?

Also consider your timing...by this I mean your personal timing and rhythms as much as any external timing factors. Is this the best time to start from both of these perspectives?

If indeed you do need to resort to Plan B, don't put it off. Let go of Plan A, and trust that if it is meant to come back, it will, in its own way and time.

In the meantime, apply whatever you learned from the experience to Plan B. It's possible that what you thought was Plan B was the plan after all, so don't be too quick to shrug it off as a mere consolation prize. Make the necessary course adjustments and lead with your heart.

Also, review my post on transitions from April 12. A failed attempt, properly managed, results in a transition, not a dead end.

Reframe the Failed Attempt for Yourself Emotionally
Put your own vision ahead of worrying about what others will think of your tumble. Give yourself permission to fail without labeling yourself a "failure." It's just trial and error on a larger, more frightening scale.

Also, remind yourself what good company you are in! We often hear stories of successful people who built their successes on the foundations of what they learned from their failures. Edison is perhaps the most frequently mentioned because of the many, many ways he discovered for making a light bulb that didn't work.

Transform Your Failed Attempts Into Service for Others
Use the experience you gained from your mistakes to help others find a smoother path. You can do this through writing, teaching, speaking, mentoring, and other ways. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success."

Coaching can help in all three of these areas. Email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com for a complimentary trial tele-coaching session.

To your success,
Susan

P.S. Last call for Saturday's Dig-In project day via teleconferencing technology, from 8:00am to 10:10am Eastern. To register for this complimentary gathering, email me by noon Eastern this Friday at scleaver@dejazzd.com. Dig-In Days are fun and effective!

Transition Can Be the Ladder to Higher Creativity

Hi All!

Transitions come in all shapes and sizes. Some we welcome, some we tolerate, and others...well, later we wonder how we ever got through them.

I'm sure that, like me, you can relate to more than a few of these examples (some more fondly than others!):

• career changes
• falling in love
• getting married
• becoming a parent
• physical, emotional, or spiritual illness
• shifting paradymes
• lifestyle changes
• geographical moves
• habit changes
• life simplification
• finishing a long-term project
• having an empty nest
• becoming a grandparent or great-grandparent
• overcoming a major obstacle
• breakdowns and/or breakthroughs
• value shifts
• midlife
• making and following through on a major decision
• settling into a fulfilling retirement
• personal development shifts

The bad news, as I'm sure you've noticed, is that even the welcomed transitions involve stress. But the good news is that we often bounce back from even our most devastating transitions with a renewed and improved access to our creativity and intuition! This is coming from me, a woman who would rather hug a porcupine than admit that her bitter medicine was good for her. But it's true.

I do NOT subscribe to the theory that we must suffer in order to create. However, there are times when stressful transitions do leave us on a higher rung of the creative ladder, where the view is amazing! And since we have to go through transitions anyway, why not acknowledge and employ this new level of awareness? Coaching can help! Email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to set up a complimentary trial tele-session.

Many people, like Christopher Reeve, have found creative ways for themselves and many others to benefit from their experiences. So if you find you've been bumped up a rung, voluntarily or not, take in the new sights and start brainstorming!

Good luck,

Susan

P.S. Complimentary April Dig-In Days are available two ways!

Via teleconference on Sat., April 28, from 8:00am to 10:10am Eastern, when we will tackle projects from our homes or offices with brief group support calls at the beginning, middle, and end. For more information, contact me at scleaver@dejazzd.com. Pre-registration is required by noon Eastern, Friday, April 27.

If this date doesn't work for you, email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to set up a one-on-one Dig-In Day at a time convenient for you!

"I got more done on this project in the first hour than I've done in the past month!" --Mary Beth Krawchuk, Dig-In Day participant