When you set your sights high, you are not setting yourself up for failure. You are setting yourself up for progress. Don’t worry about success or failure, obsess about making progress. Besides, as I've mentioned before there is no such thing as failure, only opportunities for learning. I truly believe that. You are either succeeding or learning. Such a better perspective right? Ask Einstein, he has many, many quotes that reference success and failure…

“A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new.”

“Failure is success in progress.”

“You never fail until you stop trying.”

I love the one about the fish

“If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life beleiving it is stupid.”

Be uniquely you! Don’t try to be a fish climbing a tree. Swim beautifully, but don’t be afraid to swim upstream.

I felt the eye roll. Cut the rhetoric. No such thing as failure, just learning opportunities… succeeding or learning… ya right. I hear ya! I have found myself face down in the dust on more than one occasion. And when you are in the thick of a failure, it is not fun. But you will find yourself on the other side of failure at some point. Then what? You can pack up your bags and go home or you can choose to learn from the experience. Why choose the former? How is that helpful?

As I mentioned back in a recent bonus moment, I have learned that it’s okay to decide to stop when a self-imposed challenge is not serving me. Deciding to stop is not the same as quitting or failing. The difference lies in the reason behind your decision. Decide to stop because whatever it is you are doing is not serving you.