Bird & Sunrise photo

Bird & Sunrise photo
Because "someday" is today!

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Flipping Failure on it's Head

Learn to flip failure on it's head. Artwork illustration using type and one cat image, created by ©2107 Tina M.Welter
 
Well, I’ve had two months working on the 15 min. daily habit of creating. I started out pretty great, but after several weeks of success, I began to struggle a bit until suddenly I found myself in a complete crash and burn, i.e., me cheating on my creative time with a bowl of popcorn and a classic old movie on YouTube! Sigh.
 
Looking for some insight, I searched my "helpful suggestions" file and found a blog post from 2015 that I had saved from Zen Habits which gave me the exact shift in perception I needed.
 
Basically, Leo Babauta who writes Zen Habits suggests that failure is great when we start new habits because every time we experience it, we actually have real information on how to do better the next time. The good news is that the more times we fail, the more information we have to improve! How's that for flipping failure on it's head?
 
The key thing is to actually take a moment and try to figure out what is causing your failure. Make an adjustment and try again, and again, and...you get the picture. Just keep failing and fine-tuning until you create the solution that suits you. This outlook certainly takes the sting out of FAILURE for me and that is already a huge help!
 
Looking at my own experience, I can see where my habit needs some fine tuning.  For example, I recognize that for my habit to be successful, I need to adjust to spending more of my daily 15 min. in relaxing creative play rather than always trying to create or complete something. I think I will do better with a little less pressure. All I can do is adjust and try again...
 
I do think focusing on making this 15 min. daily habit has had some success too, in that it has moved creating to the top of my priority list for each day. I do get more done on my days off when I can spend a couple hours on a project, because I have moved those ideas forward in little steps the rest of the week.
 
Here's the link to Zen Habits original great article:
 
& here's to learning how to flip failure on it's head!
 
>^-^<
 
Tina