Turn Failure Around - Make It Your "Can Do" Opportunity
By Mike Brescia 

"Is that task really so big and bad that I can't get it done in a relatively short time? How will I feel when I'm done?" Do you take the time to ask yourself these questions? Today's your day. I'm convinced of it. It's your day. And today you're going to get up all your courage and just do what you've been aching to do.

Just before you begin taking the first actions in attacking your challenge, you might be shaking like a leaf. I don't know. But it's at that moment, when you're feeling the most frightened that you'll be making your biggest strides. Because today, you're not going to back down. You're going to take a deep breath and go forward.

Are you guaranteed success? Will you reach your goal for sure? Will you absolutely get the outcome you're hoping for? Not a chance... But you'll prove to yourself and everyone that thinks that sometimes you're a dead person who just hasn't been buried yet, that you're alive and starting to kick.

People who know me well can tell you that I have failed at more things than I have succeeded at. But every time I get thrown for a loop, I immediately jump up. I ask myself what I should learn from it. And if I have to, I start completely over. So many years after my "awakening," I'm still growing as fast as I ever have. I remember my football coaches yelling at me after getting knocked down to "Get up! The play's not over yet!" It's true...

In your own life, when you make a mistake or get laughed at, if your immediate response is to put your head down and start crying, you won't be able to see the next opportunity that's passing right in front of you, riding in the wake of your agony. Get up! I'm your coach now. Don't you dare give up. Not while I'm breathing will you ever again put your tail between your legs and turn away from what might be your greatest accomplishments. I won't accept that from you. Not from you. You're too good.

Is that an odd way to describe your failure and humiliation? Well, whenever you've succeeded at getting your way at just about anything, it's rarely been on the first try. Right? It's usually been after being told 'No' a few times, or screwing something up a bunch of times before finally getting it right. Well, isn't that true?

Take that template for success and place it over everything you want to do. Everything. When you think about some goal that seems quite a stretch for you, and the thought comes in that says, "I couldn't do that," stop and place your previous success template over it. Know that no matter how big it is, if you just "remember" that, while it might be difficult, you CAN do it. And you're already half way there. Do this all day today. "I can do it" needs to be your mantra.

If you do, I promise you that your muscles will be stretched. Your mind will be stretched. And those goals that "looked" impossible will suddenly seem doable. It'll be like you've been given a new pair of eyes. Don't just sit there... Get up.

Today's not over. It's your day. Tomorrow may never come. Today is your whole life. Do what you fear today. You may never have another chance. Take your shot. Oh heck. Take 20 shots. And take them all today.

WINNING BELIEFS:

-- I'm living this day as if it is my last

-- I'm really living today and it feels good

-- Today is my day

-- I appreciate my challenges, for they will make me great

EMPOWERING QUOTE:
"Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, or to do anything, never to turn back or to stop until the thing intended was accomplished." -Ulysses Grant, 18th President of the United States