During my workout this morning, I listened to a podcast with Simon Sinek, one of my favourite motivational speakers. Simon routinely talks about business leadership, the role of optimism and the value of empathy and kindness.
Today, Simon spoke with podcaster Steven Bartlett about the importance of hard work and showing up authentically, rather than relying on AI shortcuts to appear polished. It reminded me of a quote by Thomas Edison, who made 10,000 failed attempts before inventing the lightbulb: “I have not failed even once. I just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
As a new business owner and someone who has also recently committed to healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise and a clean diet, these ideas of imperfection and successful failure resonate with me. Over the last 18 months, I have learned a few ways to do things that didn’t pay off for my business. And honestly, *most* of my workouts are imperfect.
And I keep going.
Last week, I posted a photo to Instagram after a challenging workout — I was just back to a regular routine after being sidelined with COVID — and I had little desire to pull on my runners and hit the gym. I showed up anyway. Imperfectly and unenthusiastically. I tagged the photo with a caption that said, “Motivation gets you started. Discipline keeps you going.”
I don’t want to give you the impression that I have the discipline to stick 100% to my training and diet plan — I fail regularly. I celebrated my birthday over the Victoria Day weekend with cake and wine, then more cake and more wine — and gained two pounds by the end of the week. For me, discipline isn’t 100% perfection. It means picking myself up after a setback, seeing if there’s something to learn from the experience and trying again.
I believe there is more value in early failure than immediate success. We fail on our first attempt to do most things, whether it’s learning to walk, ride a bike, play an instrument or parallel park (I still struggle with that). When you shake it off and try again and again (and if you’re Edison, another 9,998 times), you will eventually succeed, and you’ll also gain the experience and knowledge that you can only get from failing. This is why one of my favourite words to use is “YET.” Add it to the end of your sentence the next time you hear yourself say something like, “I can’t.”
“I can’t do full pushups with good form. Yet.”
“I’m not comfortable speaking in public. Yet.”
It makes a difference to add that little word. Maybe it’s just a bit of hope. Maybe that’s the verbalization of discipline — your commitment to keep going. I know when I say “I can’t lift that weight yet,” it mentally sets a goal and I keep working until I do it.
This mindset will help you succeed in little and big ways. It’s okay to fail, because you will keep trying. It’s okay to be imperfect, because you showed up with everything you had. You haven’t reached your goal … yet.
Success is a journey. Be kind to yourself while you’re on the path. And if you happen to see me trying to parallel park, don’t make eye contact, I haven’t figured out how to stay calm when someone is passing by. Yet.
By the way, if you’re interested in listening to the podcast I mentioned, it was the Diary of a CEO, May 25 episode: “Simon Sinek: You’re being Lied to About AI’s Real Purpose and We’re Teaching our Kids not to be Human!” It’s a ridiculous clickbait title, but the podcast is interesting. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Is it time for you to embark on your wellness journey? Check out TEAM IRON elles Personal Training and chat with Coach Leanne to find what works best for you!
See you next time.
Leave a Reply