By Adam Crews
You set your goals, made your plans, but failed to execute.What’s next? Why did you fail to achieve your goal?
You know the answer, and you place blame on some lack of preparation or your dedication to making it happen. Then regret sets in.
Regret and Failure are similar cousins, but not the same. Failure is a word I’m not afraid of, because I expect it to happen, and when it does I’ll be ready to never fail again. We can use failure as a springboard to success. But regret is different.
Regret impacts us differently because it’s an emotion—its disappointment. It is the one word that terrifies us. No one wants to grow old and deal with this emotion on their back. It can take a larger toll on our mental wellbeing as we place blame on ourselves, and this can be unhealthy. The trick is to understand what it is, and how not to let it happen.
Our effort
There are regrets you can live with, and some that haunt you. But the truth is, you don’t have to regret anything. You simply have to understand what will truly make you happy.
Are you happy with your current level of effort? If not, what’s it going to take to turn things around? What will it take for you to be satisfied with your results? Have you figured out how to harness your fear of failure?
We only have so many chances in life to chase our dreams. We only have so many chances to put in the work, preparation, and spend the time ‘doing’ instead of wishing.
Doing is living
Once you start moving forward and truly chasing down your goal, then everything feels like a win—even a loss. The trick is to fall in love with the process, fall in love with the now. Make small, micro goals, and watch as your confidence skyrockets.
Do you have issues waking up to go hunting? Start waking up earlier all year in preparation for hunting season. Since you are up, start chiseling away at another goal, and do something like going for a run. Or even studying animal behaviors—anything that will help prepare you for your next adventure.
Enjoy it. Enjoy every single win. Every time you are defeated, learn how to deal with failure in a positive, life-changing way. Bask in the now, and forget the regret.
Fear can drive you, regret can drive you—the trick is to not let either defeat you. Keep moving, keep pushing, rinse and repeat.
