Fall Seven Times, Get Up Eight

I often tell members of my career mentoring site the importance of sticking with it – staying the course, especially when things get tough.  The other day I came across a video of a 2008 Big Ten Track meet.  It was in a blog post by Michael Hyatt, and it featured the amazing story of a race won by Heather Dorniden Kampf, a University of Minnesota runner.  You can see the video and read the story here.

600 meters is not a long race.  It’s almost a sprint, three laps around an indoor track.  During this particular race, Heather fell at the beginning of the third lap.  Many, if not most, runners would have given up at that point.  Not Heather.  She jumped right back up and started chasing the other runners.  Amazingly, she passed them all and won the race.

Heather’s story reminds me of the career advice in Tweet 37 in Success Tweets.  “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it.  Don’t dwell on the negative, use it as a springboard to action and creativity.”  Heather certainly used her fall as a springboard to action.

When I was a kid about a million years ago, there was a popular song.  I believe it was a show tune.  A couple of the lines went like this…

“You’ve got to ac – cen – tu – ate the positive, and e — lim — in – ate the negative.”

In a book on stress management, Evelyn Brooks suggests using the S.M.A.R.T. method for dealing with setbacks…

  • S   Smash the negative.
  • M  Maximize the positive.
  • A   Act
  • R   Relax
  • T   Target your next action.

Stuff happens as you go through life; positive stuff, negative stuff, happy stuff, sad stuff, frustrating stuff.  You’ll fall down.  The important thing is not the falling, it’s the rising — how you react to problems and setbacks.  Smash your negative thoughts; replace them with positive ones.  Don’t dwell on the negative, use it as a springboard to action and creativity.  Maximize the positive in your life by creating positive habits and routines.  When something goes well, take the time to celebrate.  You deserve it.  And, the memory of these small celebrations will help you rise when you fall.

Your career mentor,

Bud

PS: I write this blog to help people create the life and career success they want and deserve. Now I’m going one step further. I’ve created a membership site in which I’ve pulled together my best thoughts on success. And, as a reader of this blog, you can become a member for free. Just go to https://budbilanich.com/join to claim your free membership. You’ll be joining a vibrant and growing community of success minded professionals. I hope to see you there.

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