This past weekend I had an amazing trip to Houston, TX
for Vitality – The Challenge’s annual
party and recognition event with thousands of my fellow Challengers. We got to learn
from the leaders, network and of course PARTY. This year’s party was themed as
a country hoedown, so of course I
was able to wear my boots and cowgirl hat!
This is me and my fellow Vi-Champion Sammye Carroll.
The best part
of the entire event was being able to hear John
C. Maxwell as our keynote speaker. I have read many of his books and
learned quite a bit from him regarding leadership and entrepreneurship. Now you
may ask: “Devon, what does this have to do with training and fitness?” Well, his talk this past weekend was about
the six Challenge Vi-Values, emphasizing on failure. Yes, failure –
fail often and get back up. Here’s why:
John C. Maxwell wrote a book about 14 years ago called Failing Forward. In that book, he
outlines many of his own personal failures, what he’s learned from them, and
how he overcame them. Failing is inevitable. Yes, I know I’ve touched on this
before, but it’s worth going over again.
In the book, Maxwell outlines 7 things that failure is
NOT:
“1. Failure is not avoidable – humans are bound to fail
sooner or later.
2. Failure is not an event, but a process. Success is not
a destination – it is the journey you take and what you do day to day – success
is a process, and so is failure.
3. Failure is not objective. You are the only person who
can label your actions a failure.
4. Failure is not the enemy – it takes adversity to
achieve success. It is fertilizer.
5. Failure is not irreversible.
6. Failure is not a stigma – they are not permanent
markers. Make each failure a step to success.
7. Failure is not final – failure is simply a price we
pay to achieve success and if we learn to embrace that new definition of
failure, then we can move ahead. It’s the price you pay for success.”
(source: Maxwell, John C. 2000 . Failing Forward)
Why is this important for you? EVERYONE FAILS. You are going to have tough times. You are going to
have set-backs. You will cheat on your nutrition plan. You will skip a few
days, or a week at the gym. You want to talk about failures? Here are just a
few of my doozeys:
·
In high-school, I quit the basketball team as a
senior because after the 3rd year of playing Junior Varsity (at 5’5”
and 185 lbs), I figured I wasn’t good enough to make the varsity team. So I quit and became the team’s manager
instead.
·
I practically failed out of college my freshman
year. I had to quit my major (pre-physical therapy) because I had a 50-something
average in introductory chemistry (which I was taking for a second time because
I got a D the first semester). I dropped the class so I didn’t get an F and
switched to a business major. I was never able to recover from my freshman
year’s GPA.
·
I failed at EVERY
DIET I ever tried. I would
start, then stop. I had trainers all through my 20s, but would quit them
because I wasn’t seeing results. I wasn’t seeing results because I would cheat
on the diet (often) and so I would
just quit – FAILED!
·
I started my first business in 2006 with my mom.
We bought a franchise together and thought we would have multiple stores
throughout the state of CT. We were out of business (and hundreds of thousands
of dollars in debt) in less than 18 months.
There are more, but those are
some of the big ones. And you know what? I wouldn’t change any one of them!
Failures are what help us learn; they help us grow. After each failure, I had a
success come out of it:
-
I learned more from my basketball coach as a
manager than as a player, and ultimately knew I would want to be a coach
someday.
-
I ended up graduating with 2 undergraduate
degrees in four years (BBA in business management and BS in communications) and
MBA three years later in marketing.
-
I finally took on The Challenge, lost 20 lbs,
10% body fat, went on to become a Challenge Champion, earn a BMW and start a
new business with Visalus. I have kept
the weight off and at the age of 36 am in the best shape of my life.
-
I took the entrepreneurial road AGAIN, quit corporate
America, fired my boss (aka dad) and started My Transformation Training.
All of my failures have eventually
lead to successes later on and that’s what it’s all about! I don’t really like
to use the word failure because it has such a negative connotation, but in
reality, you should fail often. Maxwell goes on to say you have two options
when you fail:
1)
Quit
2)
Get back up again.
Only 5% of us actually do step 2.
If you have a setback in your weight loss or fitness goals – what are you going
to choose? I chose to get back up again…and again…and again.
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